If Only Love Was Simple
by 0TerrorInABox0
Summary: Rufus decides to use Tifa as a tool to overthrow his father. But as he gets closer to reaching his goal, he finds that it's going to be a little harder than he originally imagined to do away with her after she's no longer needed.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer:**_ I own nothing but the storyline. Square Enix owns the rest.

**If Only Love Was Simple**

**RufusxTifa**

**Chapter 1:**

Rufus Shinra sat in the passenger's seat of a Shinra helicopter and stared blankly out the window, watching the icy April rain pour down over the world outside. He hated the copter ride from Junon to Midgar; it was long and never failed to bore him out of his mind.

It had been a long time since he had been called to Midgar on company business. His plan to overthrow his father using the terrorist group Avalanche had nearly been successful. In fact, if Veld and the Turks hadn't interfered he would probably be sitting comfortably in the 70th floor Presidential Office of Midgar's Shinra HQ right now.

As a result of this, Rufus had completely lost the company's trust and after his release from solitary confinement; had been sent to live at the Shinra military city of Junon to do busywork for the company under strict supervision, for the past 3 years.

Rufus didn't mind living in Junon. He had actually lived there for a good portion of his life and over the years had come to enjoy the benefits of being a Junon resident: he had access to Shinra's most powerful weapons if he ever needed them and was one of the first employees to receive Shinra's newest weaponry, he was only an hour's flight away from the sunny, tropical beaches of Costa del Sol, he didn't have to deal with the unpleasant, rebellious people of the slums, and his office had a great view of the ocean. What displeased him was that his position as Vice President had been demoted to doing paperwork that his father and the other executives didn't want to do and attending the business meetings that they didn't want to go to.

Just recently the company had finally removed their guard on him and allowed him to return to his normal life. Rufus knew that his father and the other executives still did not trust him and that any more plans to take the presidency for his own would have to wait quite a while before they could be safely put into action. But Rufus could be patient when he so desired, and in this case it would be worth the wait to pretend to be a good boy for a while.

"_Old Man'll be 70 in a few years. Hell, if you combine that with smoking those cigars, his weight and his poor eating habits; he could drop dead any day_." Rufus thought to himself, a crooked smile coming to his lips. "_I shouldn't have to wait too unbearably long."_

Rufus yawned and broke his gaze on the dreary morning outside to take a sip from the cup of coffee sitting next to him. This trip to Midgar was hardly what Rufus called "company business". The son of one of the Shinra Electric Power Company's business partners was getting married and in order to maintain good company relations, all Shinra executives were to attend such events. Although the actual ceremony was still 6 days away, Rufus had decided to leave Junon early in hopes of attending a few executive meetings.

It had been so long since he had been a significantly active part of the company and he was eager to be able to voice his opinion again. He was not however, looking forward to seeing the other executives. The other executives regarded Rufus as little more than the spoiled, bratty son of the president, first in line to the Presidency of Shinra only by family lineage. To them, he was nothing more than a nuisance.

It also seemed to Rufus that each of the executives had at least one personality quirk that annoyed him.

Palmer was a fat, bouncy ass-kisser who never failed to request more money for the Space Department every chance he got.

Heidegger was loud and obnoxious, and had a booming, horse laugh which Rufus detested.

Scarlet's wardrobe suggested that she had a past (or a promising future) with the Honeybee Inn and her cackling laugh of "Kya ha ha" always made Rufus' hair stand on end.

Hojo looked ready for the "nice young men in their clean white coats" to come and take him away to the nearest insane asylum any day; and Reeve was a geeky, goody-two-shoed pushover who was obsessed with programming robots that looked like stuffed animals.

Out of all the executives though, Reeve was the most tolerable in Rufus' opinion. He was polite and was the easiest to control.

Rufus sighed and turned toward the pilot.

"How much longer 'till we reach Midgar?" He asked.

"Ah, not too much longer sir." The pilot responded. "I'd say about 15 mo-"

His response was cut short by the loud beeping noise of the copter's threat alert system. Rufus jerked his head toward the pilot who had begun to swear and frantically push buttons on his control panel.

Moments later, the unidentified threat collided with its target, sending the chopper and its two passengers hurling down towards the earth.

* * *

Rufus slowly opened his eyes and looked around him. The copter had landed on its side with his door facing the ground. The windshield had been shattered and pieces of it littered the inside of the chopper**.** As consciousness continued to return to him, Rufus surveyed the the cockpit. He looked up to where the pilot had been sitting and immediately wished he hadn't. Whatever had struck them had done some serious damage to the pilot's side of the chopper. The pilot, who was obviously dead, had been impaled with several big pieces of metal and glass, and was covered in his own blood. His left arm hung limply over his body, hanging on to his shoulder by only a thread. Blood was splattered all over copter's interior and was dripping down to the bottom of it, along with bits of flesh and other fluids that Rufus didn't care to identify.

Seeing the gruesome mess inside, Rufus instinctively looked to his clothing where his fears were confirmed. His clothing was ruined. His once flawlessly clean white suit was now just as colorful as the rest of the copter's interior and only adding to the young vice president's misery and disgust was the fact that on top of all that, his coffee had spilt all over his pants. Looking at his clothing suddenly made Rufus aware that he had not survived the crash unscathed. His consciousness now fully regained, his attention immediately turned to an excruciating pain in his left side where he saw that a large piece of glass from the windshield had pierced him. Feeling trickles of blood drip down his face; he put his hand to his head and identified a good sized slice on his forehead extending from above his right eyebrow to his right ear, along with countless other scrapes, cuts, gashes and bruises, all over his body.

Rufus painfully attempted to lift himself up but realizing that he wasn't going anywhere with that piece of glass in his side, he sank back down into his seat. Then, remembering that a first aid box was kept under the seat he was sitting in, he reached under it and brought out the box. Inside it he found a few potions and an assortment of different bandages.

Biting his lip and closing his eyes tightly he pulled the glass out of his side and quickly drank down the potions. They proved to be enough to stop major bleeding but were not enough to stop much of the pain. The attack on the chopper had been totally unexpected, so its first aid kit hadn't been stocked with the proper healing supplies to treat major injuries properly. Removing his coat he put the bandages around his largest wounds as best he could and decided he was ready to try to move again. After putting his jacket back on, using all the strength he could muster he picked himself up and slowly got himself out of the chopper.

Rain was still pouring outside and came down relentlessly through the newly budding trees, causing Rufus to grimace and look up at the sky in disgust. He raked his hand through his blond hair and sighed. He realized that whoever had shot down the helicopter would probably be coming soon to look for any survivors.

Rufus guessed that Avalanche was responsible for the crash. Although most of the rebel group had disbanded years ago there were a few small factions of the former terrorist group that were still active. He knew he had to get away from the sight of the crash as soon as possible. Rufus reached in his pocket for his PHS, only to find that it had severely damaged during the crash. The front of the PHS now sported a cracked screen and a deep diagonal gash across its front. Still holding on to a faint hope that by some miracle his PHS would still work, he pushed the power button, but found himself looking at nothing more than a blank screen.

"Dammit!" Rufus cursed, hurling his PHS at a nearby tree causing it to break in two.

With a scowl creeping over his handsome face, he unwillingly accepted defeat at contacting the company for help. If he was going to escape possible capture and arrive in Midgar, he was going to have to do it himself. He couldn't rely on the company to come save him. Rufus looked around him. He could faintly make out the edge of the woods. So after he made sure that his shotgun was still equipped, he trudged off towards the woods' edge.

Plains… plains stretched out for what _seemed _like 100s of miles, until they ran into mountains, which blocked his way to Midgar. There was no way he was going to try to pass through the Mythril Mines and risk an encounter with the Midgar Zolom alone, and it was too far of a walk to go back to Junon. Not to mention his pride was not going allow him to walk through that little anti-Shinra fishing town below it, in the wretched state he was currently in. Trekking over the mountains on foot wasn't going to be an easy task by any means, but seeing no better option, Rufus set off towards the mountains.

* * *

After what felt like an eternity of painful walking, Rufus finally reached the mountains' base. Exhausted and aching, he sat down on a large rock to take a quick break. Propping up one knee, he rested his head against it and let his eyes shut. Suddenly he was startled by a "wark wark" coming from a little farther up the mountainside. Rufus gripped his shotgun in his hand and started in the direction of the noise. After walking up the mountain a little ways, he discovered a seemingly empty campsite on a small plateau. And in the campsite were two green mountain chocobos. The chocobos were getting uncomfortable in the pouring rain and were ruffling their feathers and warking unhappily.

It was the first bit of good luck Rufus had come across all day and he welcomed it gladly.

"_All I have to do now is snag one of these mountain chocobos and take off with it before the sorry saps who are camping here notice, and I'll be in Midgar before dinner._"

Thinking of dinner made Rufus wonder what time it was. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious in the chopper, his PHS had been destroyed in the crash, and the sun obviously wasn't going to make an appearance anytime soon, so there was no way of finding out what time it was. But, judging by the hunger pains in his stomach, he concluded that it was probably mid to late afternoon.

Rufus carefully crept into the camp, his hand still on his shotgun, watching and listening for signs that he wasn't alone. Peering into the large tent he found no one, much to his relief.

After entering the tent he found several cots, cheap weapons, some gross looking food (which he decided he wasn't hungry enough to attempt to eat) and a few articles of clothing scattered about. There was nothing of value other than 200 Gil, which he pocketed with a grin before exiting the tent.

Now Rufus turned his attention to the chocobos. He had never ridden a chocobos in his life. He had never even touched one before. The closest he had ever been to one was the first-class seating at the Chocobo Races in the Gold Saucer.

"_Well it can't be too terribly hard._ He thought. "_If those unintelligent lowlifes from Corel Prison can ride them, how hard can it be?_"

As Rufus slowly approached the chocobos, they stopped what they were doing and eyed him suspiciously. Finally standing within an arms length of them, he reached out his hand to touch one. The chocobo responded by biting his hand and warking angrily. Rufus cursed and retreated back a few steps. He shot a scornful glare at the chocobo as he held his left hand, which was now bleeding from the chocobo's bite.

"Useless animal" he muttered to himself. "The only thing chocobos are ever going to be any good for is stuffing for my pillows."

But useless as he deemed chocobos to be, he was still determined to use one as his means to transportation to Midgar. Rufus stepped back a little further to re-evaluate his strategy. Trying to be friendly was obviously not working. He was just going to have to jump on one and take off.

So, with a rather vague plan of action in his mind Rufus approached the chocobos again. One chocobo had bent its head down to itch it's leg. Seeing this as his chance to make a move, Rufus rushed to the chocobo's side and grabbed handfuls of feathers as he attempted to climb up on the chocobo's back. He had barely lifted himself off of the ground as he felt the frightened chocobo's foot come in contact with his body and send him flying through the air.

Rufus groaned in pain as he got himself up to a sitting position**. **The hard surface of the mountain had failed to provide much of a cushion for his landing. Slowly getting to his feet, his gaze fell on a small, half opened bag of green plant looking things just outside the tent's opening. Curious as to what kind of plants were in the bag; he walked over to it, picked it up and grabbed a handful of its contents. He moved the plants around in his hand with his fingers and brought his hand up near his face to smell them.

"_I wonder what they're for. Some kind of seasoning maybe? Or some kind of a drug?"_

Suddenly, the chocobos started to wark again and jump around excitedly. Rufus looked back and forth from the chocobos to the little green plants.

"_These are for them?"_

Now he remembered; these little green plants werefor the chocobos. He had seen a TV commercial once for "Choco Billy's Chocobo Greens". It had consisted of some country hick at a farm feeding the greens to his prize winning chocobo and rambling about how his greens would make your chocobo win races and how the viewer "ain't never gonna find no Chocobo greens better'n these no matter how hard yeh try".

Rufus walked over to the chocobos with his hands full of greens and them out in front of the chocobos. The chocobos warked happily and hungrily began to eat the greens out of his hands. It tickled a little when their beaks nipped at his hands as they eagerly munched on the greens. It felt awkward to Rufus, who hoped they would just hurry up and finish eating.

When they had finally finished, Rufus noticed a change in their moods. They didn't seem hostile towards him any more. They even allowed him to touch them. Confident that this time he would be able to finally be successful at getting on one, Rufus prepared to give it another shot.

He returned to the tent and grabbed the little bag of greens in case the chocobo he was riding needed a little more persuasion along the way. Then Rufus returned to where the chocobos were standing and soon, after a little trouble and some effort, Rufus found himself sitting proudly on the back of a chocobo.

Rufus smirked. It had only taken a few little green plants for them to give him their complete trust.

"_I wish people could be that easily persuaded."_ He thought to himself.

"_Now how do I get this thing to move...?"_

After several unsuccessful attempts at calling out starting commands: "Go!... Get going!...Charge!... C'mon, dammit just move!" Rufus found the chocobo's accelerator by kicking it in its side. As the chocobo sped forward, Rufus grabbed onto its neck for dear life, startled by its sudden take off. Gradually, Rufus gained his balance and was able to sit up regularly on its back. After getting the hang of steering, riding the chocobo became almost second-nature and once again, Rufus was on his way to Midgar.

* * *

He had finally made it. There it was; the great mako metropolis of Midgar was now only several feet in from on him. Now his plan of action was to find his way through the slums of Midgar to Don Coreno's Mansion, without being recognized as the son of the President of Shinra. A good number of the people of the slums were anti-Shinra activists and if his identity was discovered, there was a very good chance he would be shot, or worse.

Rufus hated the idea of going to Don Coreno for help almost as much as he hated Don Coreno himself. The Don was a loud, fat, perverted man with an atrocious haircut, who always smelled like cigars and booze and who, because of his frequent "activities" with numerous women at his prostitute palace: the Honeybee Inn, probably had diseases that hadn't even been discovered yet.

But, considering he couldn't ride the trains (as his identity would be revealed at the ID checkpoints), and wanted to avoid as much interaction with the citizens of the slums as possible, (therefore he had also ruled out the rather risky idea of calling Shinra from someone's home phone) going straight to the nearest Shinra friendly building in the slums was the best plan of action.

Although Coreno was more of an acquaintance than a friend, he found himself to be on good terms with Mr. Shinra, as the President was a regular at the Honeybee. This meant, unfortunately, that the Don's mansion was the only place in the slums where he could get assistance and be assured of his safety.

Rufus dismounted the chocobo and found that his legs were so stiff and sore that he could barely walk. After stretching, rubbing his aching legs and getting re-accustomed to walking on his own two feet again, he made sure that nothing had fallen out of his pockets during the ride, and ran his plan of action through his head a final time.

Then finally; tired, beaten and ready for the comforts of home Rufus shoved his hands into his pockets and strode into the city.

* * *

Only about 10 minutes had passed since he had entered Midgar and already Rufus found himself missing the clean fresh air, the wide open space and even the chocobo. At the moment, anywhere seemed more appealing that the slums of Midgar and anyone seemed more appealing than its residents. In fact, the only thing Rufus didn't miss was the rain.

Trash and scrap metal was piled everywhere, the buildings were in shambles, and groups of shady looking people gathered here and there next to burner barrels or by heaps of trash on the side of the street. Most of the more civilized looking people hurried along their way, looking eager to get to wherever they were going.

Lucky for Rufus, his appearance seemed to go unnoticed; no doubt thanks to the beaten, tired state of his body and the tattered, filthy apparel he had to go with it. He fit right in, and nobody seemed to bat an eye at his existence.

His trek through the city was going much smoother than he had expected it to. The only trouble he had encountered so far was adjusting to the lack of light and the musty smell, and reading signs at intersections. Many of the signs had been covered in graffiti and were no longer readable.

After a while longer of navigating his way through the slums, Rufus found himself looking at salvation in one of the last forms he had ever expected to find it in: a sign that said "Wall Market" and the vaguely familiar outline of Don Coreno's mansion in the distance.

He had been to the mansion once when he was much younger and he didn't remember much about it. The few memories he had of that visit to the Don's consisted of seeing a large red rug with a golden dragon on it, a creepy looking, candle illuminated, stone staircase on the top floor, leading down to what Rufus assumed was the basement, and the memory he was most fond of; dumping a used ash tray into one of the Don's men's glasses of beer when no one was looking and grinning secretly with evil satisfaction from the corner of the room as the man took a drink and spit it out all over his coworker (who got to take the blame for the prank) across the table.

Suddenly, the sound of an obnoxious horn and crude voices yelling brought Rufus back to the real world from his memories. He quickly turned around and saw a rusty truck barreling down the road towards him with another rusty vehicle in hot pursuit close behind it. Rufus barely had time to flinch as the first truck swerved past him at last minute, just barely missing him. Almost instantaneously after Rufus felt the first truck speed past him, he felt the hard, cold, unforgiving metal of the tail end of the second truck slam into him, sending him airborne. His body hit the ground hard and slid across the pavement for a few paces. Then, for the second time in one day, the world around him went black.

* * *

_Well, I hope you liked it! I hope this chapter wasn't too boring since it didn't have much dialogue in it. The first few chapters are going to be introduction-like chapters._

_This is my first attempt at any kind of creative writing for fun so be gentle on reviews and such but feel free to give me a bit constructive criticism or tell me if a character is acting OOC._

_Oh, and please don't flame the story because you don't like the pairing of Rufus and Tifa. _

_Thanks for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: **_My Storyline, Square Enix everything else.

**If Only Love Was Simple**

**RufusxTifa**

**Chapter 2:**

_That same morning…_

"Goood morning Midgar residents! You're waking up with the Midgar Morning Show. Today is Sunday, April 20th**-**"

Tifa Lockheart rubbed her eyes and let out a drowsy yawn. Rolling herself over to face her alarm, she saw that was 7:00 AM. Tifa grumbled sleepily to herself and got into a sitting position, swinging her legs over the edge of her bed.

"-Today's weather forecast is 65 °F,with a 95% chance of showers, so don't forget those umbrellas on your way out today. In other news-" Tifa reached over to shut off her alarm and walked over to her bedroom window.

"Wow, just look at those clouds,"she said to herself sarcastically, gazing up at the plate above her which completely obstructed the sky from her vision. "They look like they're going to burst any minute."

Tifa had been living in the slums ever since Sephiroth had burned Nibelheim, but it didn't matter how long she had been living there. She would never be able to get used to that ugly metal plate that now served as her sky. She missed the breathtaking mountain scenery; the cool breeze on her face, the sunrises, the sunsets, and most of all, the starry nights. On a clear night, the sky would be filled with thousands of bright, sparkling stars as far as the eye could see. Tifa had spent countless hours sitting on top of the well in the center of town, gazing up at the stars, thinking and dreaming.

But aside from the depressing scenery, Tifa had gotten rather used to living in the slums and enjoyed her new job as a bar hostess. Ever since she had come to Midgar she had been living with Barret Wallace, his friends Biggs, Jessie, and Wedge, and his adopted daughter Marlene, at Seventh Heaven where she served drinks and fought against the Shinra Company in Barret's underground Shinra resistance group called Avalanche. She had become very fond of Seventh Heaven. It's green and brown bar stools, the vintage jukebox in the corner, the old wooden tables covered with initials and other carvings from the bar's patrons, the pinball machine Jessie had rigged as the secret entrance to Avalanche's headquarters and even the scattered bullet holes in the walls from Barret's occasional outbursts of anger. True, it wasn't a very big bar and it wasn't all that fancy, but it was cozy and she loved every inch of it.

Tifa sighed and stepped away from the window. Walking over to her dresser she pulled out a short white tank top, black suspenders, a short black mini-skirt and the rest of her daily apparel and headed down the hallway to the bathroom to take a shower.

Tifa had developed very bitter feelings towards the Shinra Electric Power Company. After all, it was because of Shinra that her father was dead and her hometown was destroyed. Shinra had also lured her childhood friend Cloud; whom she had developed feelings for, away from Nibelheim to their evil corporation by promising him fame, strength and glory if he could make it into SOLDIER.

Moving to the slums had opened Tifa's eyes to the countless numbers of other people, in the slums and around the world, that were suffering as a result of Shinra's greed and exploit of mako energy. And that wasn't all. Recently, Tifa had learned from Barret, who had also lost loved ones and his hometown because of the evil corporation, that using mako as an energy source was slowly killing the planet, and if it wasn't stopped, the planet and everything on it would die.

* * *

"Time to get up!" Tifa said in a singsong voice to the sleeping figure of Marlene as she opened the door to the little girl's bedroom. The two year old slowly opened her eyes.

"Good morning, Tifa."

"Whatcha want for breakfast?"Tifa asked, sitting down on the edge of the child's bed.

"I want some pancakes, Pancakes with some syrup and some butter and some apple juice too."Marlene mumbled, looking up at Tifa with a drowsy smile.

"Alrighty." Tifa chuckled at the little girl's sleepy reply and got herself off the edge of the bed.

"Today I have to take inventory for the bar so I'm gonna need you're help, especially since it's just you and me today. Okay?"

Marlene nodded and began to close her eyes again.

Tifa playfully rolled her eyes and pulled the covers off of Marlene's bed, causing the two year old to scrunch up her face. "Oh no you don't! It's time to get up."

About a week earlier, Jessie had received a present from an old friend in Junon: a small surface to air missile, powerful to down an aircraft the size of a small , as luck would have it,a couple days later Avalanche was able to obtain the information that a Shinra executive would be leaving Junon for Midgar by helicopter on April 20th. It was the perfect opportunity to try out their new technology. If they were lucky, this executive would survive the crash and Avalanche would be able to capture him and squeeze company secrets out of him. Tifa had stayed behind on this mission to watch Marlene and take care of the bar. And although she worried about her fellow Avalanche members from time to time, she had confidence in their abilities and knew that they would most likely come back safely.

* * *

Tifa piled the pancakes onto a plate and took them to the table where she had prepared a place to eat for her and Marlene.

"After I take inventory I'm going to need to go shopping for the things we need to restock, so I'm going to drop you off at Biggs' sister's house while I'm at the store. Sound good?"

Marlene responded with a nod as she took a bite of her pancake.

Biggs was born in slums of Midgar and had there his whole life. He had joined Avalanche a couple years ago, after his mother died. His younger sister had stayed at their old house and Biggs still went to visit her often. Since his sister's house was so close to Seventh Heaven, it was the ideal place to send Marlene when she needed someone to watch her.

Wall Market wasn't exactly the safest place in Midgar, especially for women. So Tifa felt better taking Marlene somewhere she knew the two year old would be safe while she shopped. Being the hometown of the Honeybee Inn, Wall Market was naturally filled with the dregs of society. But it was also home to the best shopping in the slums, which made going there worthwhile despite its bad qualities.

With breakfast finished, Tifa moved on to the next task of the day. Grabbing a pen and paper, the bartender began sorting through her drinks and storage cabinets, making a list of the things she needed. Marlene did her part to help out as well. Sitting on the floor, she did the same as her older companion by sorting unbreakable containers so Tifa could evaluate whether or not she needed to buy more.

Once Tifa had finished putting everything away, she grabbed her list and headed out the door with Marlene to her usual babysitting destination. After a chat with Biggs' sister, Tifa said goodbye to Barret's adopted daughter and was ready to hit the stores.

Knowing that shopping would run well over lunchtime, Tifa stopped at the Wall Market diner to grab an early lunch. It was a crowded little diner, there always seemed to be only one seat left whenever she came there to eat.

"What will you have?" Asked that waitress after Tifa had taken the only available seat.

Tifa told her order to the waitress, who shouted it to the cook behind her, who began to prepare the meal. Tifa paid her 70 Gil pre-pay bill and soon lunch was served. After she had filled her stomach, Tifa resumed her shopping and started on her way to the food store.

"Hey!" a voice from behind Tifa shouted. She turned around to find the owner of the Wall Market Weapons Shop walking up to her.

"You're a member of that group that Jessie from the Sector 7 hangs around with, right?" he inquired.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Well, I've got that battery she was lookin' for. If ya tell her to come by and pick it up today I'll hold it for her until she gets there."

Jessie loved working with electronic things and was always looking for special parts for them. As a result, Jessie had become quite a regular at the Wall Market Weapons Shop. Tifa wasn't sure what the battery was for but she knew Jessie probably needed it for one of her many projects.

"Jessie's out of town right now, but I can stop by and pick it up for her after I've finished my shopping today." Tifa offered.

"Sure, that'd be fine. I'll hold on to it for you then. I'll be expecting ya!" he replied before heading back to his shop.

Tifa continued along her way and, after making another unplanned stop; this time to browse through some clothes at a street-side sale, Tifa finally reached the supermarket. Shopping for food wasn't nearly as interesting as browsing through clothes and Tifa was disappointed upon finding that several of the items she needed were out of stock and that she would have to go to a different sector to get them. Then came the long line at the cash register. With nothing better to do while she waited, Tifa picked up a tabloids magazine and flipped through it.

"_Marriage between the heir of Echo Screen Enterprises and the daughter of the Snoozing in Gaia hotel chain's owner, promises to create strong ties between the two companies and Echo Screen's parent company, the Shinra Electric Power Company."_

Tifa rolled her eyes and placed the magazine back on the rack. _"Great, that's just what Shinra needs, free hotel rooms along with their already discounted battle items."_

Eventually, Tifa found herself at the end of the shopping line. After picking up her bags at the register, she headed back into the street. As she made her way back through Wall Market, a sign in the window of the Item Shop caught her attention.

"Ooh! A sale on phoenix downs and hypers!" Tifa said excitedly, starting towards the shop, entering and re-emerging later with her arms completely filled with bags of purchased goods.

Tifa lugged herself and her many bags of groceries and assorted battle items back to Seventh Heaven and decided to wait on putting everything away until she returned with the items she wasn't able to find at Wall Market. Temporarily, she set her purchases down in the basement so they wouldn't get stolen if the bar was broken into and left the bar once more to finish her shopping.

* * *

With her shopping done at last, Tifa plopped herself down onto one of the bar stools to take a breather. She had had to travel to the slums of two other Sectors to get the supplies she was looking for. But now bar was restocked and ready for the next day, everything was put away and the only thing left to do was pick up Marlene and make dinner.

"_It seems like I bought something for everyone in Avalanche today. Wedge will be glad to have the food, Biggs and Barret will glad to have the fresh stock of battle items and Jessie will be glad to have that-"_

"Battery!" Tifa smacked her hand against her head. "I forgot to pick up that battery for Jessie!"

The owner of the Weapons Shop had a habit of collecting rare items off the ground, from piles of rubble and trash throughout the slums, and selling them at his shop. The problem was that those items always sold fast, never sticking around for more than a few days. Plus, the owner of the Weapon's Shop was always up for making some extra Gil. Even though he had told Tifa that he would hold the battery for her, she had heard from Jessie that he wasn't always true to his word. If someone else came along and told him they would pay more than the already overpriced amount he was asking for, there was a good chance he would sell it to them.

Tifa grabbed her money and rushed out of the door back to Wall Market to nab that battery before someone else did.

* * *

"Hey, welcome." The shopkeeper greeted Tifa. "I was starting to wonder if you'd forgotten to come by."

"Well, I almost did actually." She replied with an embarrassed laugh. "But thanks for holding it for me. Jessie will be thrilled."

The Weapons Shop owner handed her a bag with the battery in it. "Here ya are. That'll be 900 Gil."

It took Tifa a few seconds to comprehend that she was going to have to pay 900 Gil for _one _battery that some guy found lying around in a pile of junk. Tifa reluctantly handed him the Gil. _"This thing better be one damn powerful battery and it better not be broken! Jessie's really going to get it from Barret if he finds out how much this cost."_

"Come again!" the Weapon Shop owner called after Tifa as she exited the shop with her bag in hand. Just as soon as she had set foot on the road, Tifa found herself caught in the middle of rush hour in the slums. This was the time of day when the streets were the most crowded and the people were the pushiest. Even on weekends, the streets were swarming with people.

Having no particular reason to rush back to Seventh Heaven, Tifa casually made her way through the busy streets heading towards the slums of Sector 7 to pick up Marlene and go home for dinner.

"_What a busy day..." _She thought to herself._"…I'm getting hungry. I wonder what I should make for dinner. I'll have to see if Marlene's in the mood for-"_

Tifa felt a rush of wind hit her and her attention was suddenly turned from her own thoughts to two trucks speeding down the road, chasing each other and honking their horns.

"_Maybe they'll get in an accident and learn their less-" _

Tifa watched in shock as the second truck slammed into a young man, sending him hurling across the pavement. The truck that had caused the accident continued to speed along and honk, as if it didn't even notice it had hit someone.

Tifa rushed to the motionless figure's side, disgusted that she was the only person around who cared enough to do so. Kneeling down beside him she found herself looking at an unconscious, blond haired man who looked about her age. He was wearing blood stained, muddy clothes that looked like they had originally been white and had cuts and bruises all over him.

"_How am I gonna get this guy somewhere safe? I can't just leave him here. Wait, these blood stains don't look fresh." _Tifa reached out and touched his blood stained jacket. _What happened to him?" _she thought to herself.

"What's happened?"

Tifa looked up, surprised to hear another voice. It belonged to a girl who also looked about Tifa's age, with long, light brown hair tied up in a pink ribbon. She was holding a basket of flowers.

After telling her about the accident, the flower girl offered to help Tifa get the young man off the street.

"But where do you think we should take him?" she asked."I'd take him to my house, but it's in the slums of Sector 6 which is a pretty long walk from here carrying something as heavy as a body."

"My bar isn't too far from here." Tifa pointed in the direction of the Sector 7 slums. "We can take him there."

"Sounds like a plan to me!"

Tifa smiled; glad to have someone to help her. "We should try to find something to carry him on. It's probably not a good idea to pick him up as he is now."

"I'll go look for something in the rubble." The flower girl replied.

While she searched the rubble, Tifa stayed by the young man's side to keep him from being robbed or stepped on by other pedestrians who weren't watching where they were going.

Eventually, Tifa's new accomplice returned with a long piece of aluminum strong enough to carry a person. And after the two girls had managed to slide the piece of metal under the man and lift him up, they began to carry him to Seventh Heaven.

Carrying an unconscious person to Seventh Heaven proved to be easier said than done. It was no easy task to carry a man on a makeshift stretcher through the congested streets of the slums, dodging people and cars, one girl carrying a flower basket, the other carrying a bag with large battery in it, while trying not to drop the stretcher and the person on it, all at the same time. After finally making it to the Sector 7 slums, they faced some more difficulty getting safely through the door and up the stairs. The girls were finally able to take a breather after laying their unconscious burden down on Tifa's bed and sliding the aluminum stretcher out from under him.

"Whew, we made it! He's heavier than he looks!" The flower girl laid her flower basket on the floor and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I'm Aeris by the way."

Tifa sat down on the other end of the bed and returned the introduction. "My name's Tifa, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too."

Aeris gave Tifa a friendly smile at and looked towards motionless figure on the bed. "Poor guy, he's in pretty bad shape."

Suddenly, as if she realized she was running late,the flower girl stood up and grabbed her flower basket. "Well, I'd love to stay until he wakes up but I should get home before my mom thinks I got kidnapped or something."

Tifa couldn't really tell if the girl was joking or not and thought it was a bit weird that a mom would be really worried about someone Aeris' age getting kidnapped. But before she could give it any more thought, the flower girl had pulled a flower out of her basket and was offering it to Tifa.

"Give this to him for me as my "get well soon" gift when he wakes up." She said with a giggle.

Tifa accepted the flower and put it on her nightstand. "Thanks, for helping me out today."

"Oh, no problem. It was nothing." Said Aeris cheerfully. "Good luck Mister!" She gave a friendly wave to the unconscious young man and said goodbye to Tifa before heading out of the bar to make her way back home.

_

* * *

__Notes: Aeris makes a small cameo-like appearance in this chapter but as of right now, I don't plan on making her a main part of the story. I also included a few places in Wall Market from the game, such as the diner where you have to pre-pay for your meal, the street-side clothing sales and the Weapons Shop owner who collects stuff out of junk and sells it.__ I hinted at the threat of Aeris being kidnapped by the Turks too.__ Also, Biggs' sister was based off of a female WRO soldier Vincent meets in Dirge of Cerberus when you are in the Sector 7 train graveyard. She tells Vincent that she grew up in the slums of Sector 7 and that her brother was in a Shinra resistance group and was killed when the plate fell, so I just made her related to Biggs. I don't know if she really is or not._

_Well it certainly took me long enough to get another chapter up. XD This chapter is kind of another introduction chapter, but from Tifa's point of view. Next chapter the introductions are finally done we get to some interaction between Rufus and Tifa, yay!! Hopefully it won't take me so dreadfully long to finish._

_Hope you enjoy!  
_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: **_Square Enix owns everything but the storyline, which belongs to me.

_**Notes:**__ I don't think I've clarified this in previous chapters so just so you know: _

'_text in italics'_ represents thoughts

'regular text' is speech/narration

**If Only Love Was Simple**

**RufusxTifa**

**Chapter 3:**

Tifa walked over to where her unconscious guest was lying. Now that the chaotic rush of getting the injured man safely to her house was over, she had the time to take a closer look at him. He was a mess of course, like any person who had gotten hit by a truck would be, but the more Tifa looked at him, the less she noticed how much of a mess he was, and the more she noticed an elegant, almost regal quality about him, start to present itself.

"_In fact," _she thought to herself, studying his body and facial features, _"He'd be pretty handsome if he was cleaned up nicely." _

Tifa felt her hand brush up against his sleeve and suddenly recalled how his coat had been damp, muddy and already covered in dried blood when she had found him.

"_That's so strange. What could have happened to him?" _

Tifa unbuttoned his jackets and pushed them out of her way. Underneath she found a black turtleneck with a bloodstained, white dress shirt over it. Bandages, which were especially bloody on his left side, were wrapped around his stomach, on top of the shirts.

"_That wound looks pretty bad; I should get a better look at it." _Tifa started to unwrap the bandages and froze. _"What if he were to wake up while I'm doing this? That would make things awkward… I'll just wait until he regains consciousness to take a look at that. It's not bleeding anymore anyways." _

Tifa quickly re-wrapped the bandages and had begun fix his jackets when the brand name on the tag caught her eye.

"_Gaia Imperial!? __They charge you for breathing in that store! Who is this guy?" _Tifa looked him over questioningly and finished buttoning his jackets, not noticing as she buttoned some of them in the wrong holes.

The expensive clothing label only added to the mysterious aura of elegance that seemed to surround him and Tifa was beginning to get anxious for the young man to regain consciousness.

Tifa retreated from the side of the bed and brought a chair up to her room from downstairs so she could sit while she waited for him to come to. Then she grabbed a book from her bookshelf to help pass the time while she waited and settled down in the chair to read.

* * *

Rufus slowly began to open his eyes, his mind in a whirl.

-_Junon…wedding…copter crash…campsite…chocobos…Don Corneo…the slums of Midgar…-_

Looking around, he found himself lying on a bed in a strange room. The room had only one window and most of its furnishings consisted of cheap looking furniture, and an old piano.

"_I guess I must be at the Don's."_

Rufus groaned in pain and attempted to get himself into a sitting position on the bed.

_"I'm going to have to have a chat with Corneo about this room he's keeping me in. That fat bastard is the richest man in the slums. He could most certainly do better than this for the Vice President of Shinra."_

Suddenly, Rufus heard a gasp come from the opposite end of the room.

"You're awake!"

Rufus turned his head toward the direction of the female voice and in an instant a raven-haired girl with maroon eyes was at the side of the bed.

"Sorry, if I startled you. You got hit by a truck so another girl and I carried you here to get you off the street. My name's Tifa Lockheart. What's yours?"

"Rufus Sh-"

Rufus froze. Her words had made the connection in his mind just barely in time to save him from completely exposing his identity and Rufus was faced with the harsh reality that he hadn't made it to the Don's after all. Frantically, he searched his mind for a fake last name beginning with 'Sh', that he could give the woman standing beside him without making it obvious he was lying.

Rufus shook his head. "-ah… Shh-adrick. Rufus Shadrick" He smiled at the girl with his best "I'm confused and in pain" smile and tried to look more disoriented that he actually was.

His acting seemed to pay off and the girl, who identified herself as Tifa, gave him a warm, pity filled smile and told him it was nice to meet him. Rufus breathed a mental sigh of relief and let her fuss with the pillows on the bed and try to reposition him to make him more comfortable. He was too grateful that he had been able to keep his real name covert, to bother complaining to her that he had been more comfortable before she had started to mess around with things.

"Oh, here." Tifa handed Rufus a flower from the nightstand next to her bed. This is a 'get well soon' present from the girl who helped me get you off the street."

Rufus accepted the flower, which was a bright, fluorescent white and studied it.

"_I wonder where she got this; flowers are pretty rare in Midgar, especially in the slums." _He thought to himself before setting it back on the nightstand.

"I'll be back in a little while." Tifa said heading towards the door. "I have to go to a neighbor's house to get a few things. Then I'd like to take a look at those injuries of yours. Some of them look pretty bad."

"Wait!" Rufus called to Tifa as she began to walk through the doorway to the room. Tifa stopped and turned back around to face him.

"Where am I, exactly?"

"You're in the slums of Sector 7, at my bar called Seventh Heaven."

"Thanks." Rufus replied politely before leaning his head back against the pillows and shutting his eyes.

* * *

Tifa quickly made her way to Biggs' sister's house and knocked on the door.

"Oh, hi Tifa! Marlene's upstairs, I'll go get her."

"Actually," Tifa replied. "I was wondering if Marlene could spend the night here tonight."

"Sure, of course she can. Is something wrong?" The other woman invited Tifa inside her house to the kitchen so they could talk in private.

"No, not really. On my way home from shopping this guy got hit by a truck. No one else seemed to even notice so I took him to my house so he could recover. I don't want Marlene to pester this poor guy while he's trying to rest and it would be a little too difficult for me to tend to him and watch Marlene at the same time. I was also wondering if you had any bandages I could borrow. I have a few but Barret and the others took most of them with them when they left for their mission."

"Yeah, I have some I can give you. Is he hurt really bad?"

"Well, he can talk just fine and he can move around a little bit too, so I don't think he's going to die on me. I'm not exactly sure how hurt he is though because he was already injured before he got hit. He's also wearing about four layers of clothing so that makes it even harder to tell."

"Hmm. That's interesting. When you find out what happened to him, you'll have to let me know. Oh! Bandages, I almost forgot! I'll be right back." Marlene's babysitter left the kitchen and returned quickly with some bandages for Tifa.

"Here you are. You sure you're going to be okay in your house all alone with some guy you don't know?"

"Yeah, he's not a real big, burly guy or anything. I think I'd be able to take him if I had to. But I don't think it'll come to that. Right now I doubt he could off the bed."

Biggs sister laughed and called upstairs for Marlene to come down before turning back to Tifa. "I'll come back to Seventh Heaven with you and Marlene and help her pack so you can get back to tending your 'patient'."

Tifa chuckled and was about to thank her when she heard a little voice shout her name from the stairs.

"Hi Marlene! Have you been having a good time?"

Marlene nodded. "Tifa, what's for dinner?"

"Actually, you're going to have dinner and spend the night here tonight."

"A sleepover!?" The two year old asked excitedly.

"Yep, I'm going to be really busy with some things tonight, so I need you to stay here until tomorrow."

"What kind of things Tifa?"

"I'll tell you about it when I pick you up tomorrow, okay?

"But why can't I know now?" Marlene whined.

Tifa sighed playfully and slyly suggested "Maybe if you're really, really good and don't ask about it anymore I'll let you see him tomorrow."

"Him!? …Oops!" Marlene said with a guilty smile as she realized she had almost forgotten the request Tifa had made, only a moment ago, not to ask any more questions. "Okay, I'll be really good Tifa. I promise."

Tifa laughed and motioned Marlene toward the door. "Alright let's go get you ready for your sleepover."

* * *

Realizing that he was never going to be able to rest, knowing the potential danger he could be in, Rufus opened his eyes again and slowly repositioned himself back to a more comfortable position on the bed. He had to get out of this bartender's house as soon as he could. This was exactly where he had tried not to end up: in the mercy of the anti-Shinra denizens of the slums. If this Tifa girl found out who he really was, there was a good chance his situation would go from extremely unpleasant and inconvenient to absolute hell, very quickly.

Rufus knew he had to come up with some sort of a plan to escape the bar as soon as possible. As he laid thinking, he glanced down at his stomach and suddenly felt sick. Some of the buttons on both of his jackets had been buttoned unevenly.

"_Have I already been searched? …There is no way I'm the one who buttoned that many of my buttons wrong." _His hands went immediately to his pockets where to his surprise, he discovered that nothing was missing. He still had his ID, his shotgun and even the Gil and the chocobo greens he had pocketed at the mountain campsite. But, that wasn't enough to convince him he was safe. In vain, Rufus tried to get himself off of the bed. The accidents he had gone through were starting to take their toll on him and he was too tired and too weak to go anywhere. He would just have to be prepared for anything when his captor returned.

However, a few parts of his situation didn't quite fit. _"If she had bad intentions, why would she have bothered to act so pleasantly, give me a room with a bed and leave my things in my pockets?"_

His ponderings were cut short as he heard a door opening and people talking on the floor below him. Rufus quickly grabbed his shotgun and hid it under the pillows so he had a chance of defending himself if and when he needed to.

With the sound of footsteps on the stairs leading to the upper floor, Rufus laid back down and forced himself to relax and act like he was sleeping.

* * *

Biggs' sister followed Marlene to her bedroom to help her pack while Tifa went into the basement to get some medicine and find the rest of the bandages. After collecting everything she needed, Tifa rode the pinball machine/elevator back up to the first floor just as Marlene and her babysitter were coming back down the stairs.

"See you tomorrow Marlene; and be good."

"I will."

Tifa walked with them to the door and waved goodbye to them from the porch. "Have fun you two!"

Marlene and Biggs' sister returned Tifa's goodbyes and went off on their way.

Tifa walked back up the stairs and entered her room to find that Rufus had fallen asleep. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Tifa gently touched him on the shoulder. "I'm back. I had to go get some extra bandages. Sorry to wake you, but I'm ready to check out those injuries of yours."

Rufus opened his eyes and carefully propped himself back up on his pillows. Then, stiffly, he removed his jackets and began to take off his bandages.

"Oh, no here, don't hurt yourself." Tifa said taking the part of the bandage he was holding from him. "I'll do that for you. You just sit back and relax."

"I think I will be able to manage it myself thank you."

"You could barely get those jackets off. You expect me to believe that you'll be able to take off the rest? Don't be stubborn. You're already hurt and I don't need you hurting yourself more, trying to be a man about it. Just let me handle it. I'll be careful, I promise."

As insulted as he was, Rufus knew she was right. And, not wanting to spoil the girl's friendly demeanor toward him, he allowed Tifa to unwrap his bandages and remove the rest of his clothing from his waist up.

Rufus glanced around the room in a desperate attempt to find something, anything to divert his attention to; to help make the pride-shattering situation he was in more tolerable. His eyes finally rested on the source of the problem herself. It was the first time he had ever actually stopped to take a good look at her and he was pleasantly surprised at what he saw. Instead of the dirty, rough and tumbled appearance he had previously imagined all people of the slums to have, the girl in front of him was actually quite beautiful. Like any other man, Rufus' attention was of course, immediately directed to her chest. But believing himself superior to the majority of the population of men, who were too easily hypnotized by a woman's breasts, clothing or lack thereof, he was able to look past her, most noticeable quality, to see the rest of her. She was well kempt, with silky black hair that came down past her waist and was tied in a dolphin-tail split, pleasing facial features that were complimented by sparkling maroon eyes and a slender yet muscular body frame. 

_"Maybe,_" he thought, keeping his eyes fixed on Tifa after she had lifted his black turtleneck over his head. _"this isn't quite so bad after all."_

The sudden feeling of a warm washcloth on his bare skin immediately diverted Rufus' gaze from his new personal nurse's body to his own, where Tifa had begun to clean his cuts and wash the blood off of his stomach.

"So how did all of this happen to you?"

Rufus decided that he would be less likely to trap himself in his own lies if any fake information he told her was at least vaguely related to the truth.

"It was a um, another transportation accident, actually. Except I was a passenger that time, instead of a pedestrian."

"Two accidents in one day!?" Tifa looked up at him in disbelief. "That's terrible!"

"Yeah, I still can't believe what horrid luck I've had toda-OUCH! Be more careful around that area! If you could, please." Rufus gritted his teeth and fought off the ever-growing urge to forget politeness and curse her out of the room, as Tifa began to clean the deep gash in his left side, which had reopened slightly from being stretched while he was being undressed and was slowly bleeding.

Tifa pulled her hand away from him. "Oh! I'm so sorry; I'll try to be more careful. That looks like it really hurts a lot." Tifa replied and carefully went back to washing the wound. "How did you get this?"

"That's from a piece of glass from the windshield. I pulled it out after the crash."

"That could have killed you! It's sounds like you've had a really bad day today, but I'd still say you're pretty lucky. You managed to survive two accidents and you happened to be in the right place at the right time for me to help you out. Most people down here would have just kicked you out of the way or robbed you of everything you have on you."

"Thank you for that, by the way." Rufus glanced down at her with a sincere looking smile, still unsure of just how grateful he should actually be for her seemingly kind deed.

"Oh it was no problem at all! I'd never leave an injured person on the road for dead like that." Tifa looked up from her work for a moment to return the smile and found herself staring into a pair of icy blue eyes that froze her in place, and made everything else around her seem to disappear. His eyes were intimidating. They made Tifa feel small and insignificant and half of her was frightened and wanted to break free from his stare; but they were also enticing, almost as if they were daring her to keep searching for the soul hidden behind their cold, emotionless exterior.

Tifa awkwardly broke away from his gaze and finished cleaning the injuries on his chest and back.

Rufus replayed Tifa's words over again in his head. _"All this would be too much work and would be completely unnecessary if she really had other intentions. __I must have jumped to a conclusion about this situation too fast. It looks like I got lucky and she doesn't have the slightest idea who I really am at all. __**…**__However, that still doesn't explain the buttons on my jackets." _He looked down again at Tifa, who had begun to apply medicine to his cuts and bruises.

Tifa couldn't help but feel a little nervous as her fingers slid along Rufus' bare skin. His skin was smooth and she could feel as well as see, his firm, toned stomach muscles. Tifa focused on applying the medicine and hoped he couldn't see how tense she felt.

However, Rufus had been trained to read body language and could easily see she was nervous and knew that he was the reason. Holding back several impudent questions regarding his personal nurse's virginity, Rufus relaxed and relished in being the reason for Tifa's discomfort as she applied the rest of the medicine, wrapped him in new bandages and helped him put his shirts and jackets back on. Tifa then turned her attention to the cuts on his face and the bite on his hand and did the same for them.

"There, you're all done." Tifa gathered all the dirty, used bandages and got off of the edge of the bed. "Feel any better?"

"Yes, actually." Rufus responded, for once truthfully.

" Are you hungry Mr. Shadrick? I can make you something to eat."

"Just call me Rufus, please_._ And yeah I could go for something to eat."

"Okay, I'll bring some food up for you along with a couple of potions in a little while."

Rufus answered Tifa with a nod and watched her exit the room.

* * *

Shadrick. Rufus had had to hold back a shudder on hearing Tifa address him by that name. Unfortunately, that had been the first name beginning with the letters 'Sh' that had come to his mind. Shadrick had been the maiden name of his mother, who more or less reminded him of a less slutty, more sophisticated version of Scarlet. His mother had married into the Shinra family for the only reasons anyone would ever marry someone as repulsive as his father: money, power and fame; and to her, Rufus had been little more than an annoying responsibility that kept her from gossiping with her friends and going to parties. Rufus didn't have very many memories of her, as she had gotten bored of life as 'Mrs. Shinra' and had divorced his father when Rufus was seven. But, the memories he did have, he wasn't particularly fond of. Most of what he remembered of her consisted of her shooshing him away with her hand, not bothering to even look in his direction and telling him "Not now darling, mommy's busy. Go bother someone else right now, okay?", telling her friends that she couldn't go out that day because she was stuck taking care of her husband's little brat, and her occasional drunken fights in the kitchen with his father. Rufus had no idea where his mother was now, and nor did he care. As long as she wasn't bothering him, it didn't matter. There was one thing he was grateful to her for however. She, along with Scarlet, had taught him early in life that women were dangerous and manipulative, thought only of their own interests and that intimate relationships with them should be made only for sexual pleasure or political reasons and were best avoided when possible.

Rufus relaxed back into his pillows, glad to have some more time to himself. His thoughts turned to his current situation, which he could now almost positively assume, was no longer a hostage one. Now that he could confidently say that his life wasn't in immediate danger, he would have to be very careful to keep it that way. Most especially, he would have to be careful when using his most powerful yet double-edged weapon: his tongue. He would have to choose his words carefully and try to hide the 'spoiled, bratty, rich-kid' part of him to the best of his ability whenever he spoke with her.

A sudden growl from his stomach made Rufus' thoughts turn from his present situation to the one he would be in shortly. It wasn't until Tifa had mentioned food that he had realized how hungry he actually was. He had skipped breakfast that morning and hadn't had anything to drink besides the coffee he had drank in the copter. Despite that however, Rufus wasn't exactly sure he was hungry enough to eat whatever it was that Tifa was going to bring up to him.

"_What do people eat down here?"_

Images of poor people eating road kill, insects and shoes and Tifa picking through the trash on the side of the street trying to find something for him to eat, involuntary flashed through his mind and Rufus felt his desire to eat all but disappear.

* * *

Tifa lit the stove and began to cook some vegetable and noodle soup. After he had awakened, her interest in her injured guest had continued to grow even more. He was different than anyone she had ever met before**. **In addition to his charming aura of sophistication, he was strangely polite and had a slightly different way of talking and describing things. He also used words like "horrid" that Tifa wasn't used to hearing in everyday conversation.

A slight shiver went down Tifa's back as she remembered when their eyes had met. His icy blue eyes, which had seemed so cold and intimidating, yet so alluring at the same time had made Tifa's heart skip a beat. She hadn't felt that way since the night Cloud made his promise to her on the well in Nibelheim. Tifa dipped her cooking spoon in the soup and gave it a taste to make sure it was done before scooping some into a bowl; grabbing a few potions along with a glass of water, and gathering everything else that he would need for the meal. Then she placed everything on a tray and took it upstairs.

* * *

As the door opened and Tifa walked through, Rufus was pleasantly surprised to find that the meal that was placed in front of him not only looked edible, but smelled edible as well.

"There you are. Enjoy."

Rufus reached down for his soup spoon, only to find that it was missing and that she had given him a dessert spoon instead.

"Is something wrong?" Tifa asked, seeing the confused look on his face.

Rufus held up the spoon she had given him. "This isn't a soup spoon."

Tifa uncontrollably burst into laughter.

Rufus looked down at his food and put the spoon back on the tray, mentally slapping himself for adding yet another incident of embarrassment to his already unreasonably mortifying day.

Tifa forced herself to stop laughing. "I'm sorry. It's just that that was the last thing I was expecting you to say. I've never had anyone tell me that before. Well, I don't know if I have a soup spoon but I'll try to find one for you if you-"

"No, it's alright; you don't have to look for one. I'll be fine with this one."

"Are you sure, I can look if you really want me to."

"No really, please. Don't worry about it."

Rufus picked up the spoon again and tasted the soup. It was plain, just vegetables, broth and noodles; not even close in taste to the exquisite foods of the upper class that he was used to eating; but it was by no means bad either. In fact it was much better than he had been expecting it to be. It was hot and edible, and he was hungry.

Tifa sat down in the chair she had brought up to her room earlier and watched him eat. His manners were flawless and seemed to be completely natural, rather than forced and awkward, like most people's were.

"So, where are you from?" Tifa asked.

"Well, for awhile I lived in the middle of nowhere, in the country; but I recently moved to Junon." Rufus replied, sticking to his plan of trying to keep everything he told her at least somewhat related to the truth.

"Do you like the city?"

"It took awhile to get used to how busy it is, with all the naval things going on and the copters and the airships and such; but I like it now that I've gotten used to all that."

"Oh, yeah that would be hard to get used to. It's a big change from living in the country. What brought you all the way over here to Midgar?"

Rufus took drink from his glass of water. "I'm visiting family."

"Your family's expecting you!? Do you want to call them and tell them you're alright? They're probably worried sick about you!"

"No, it's okay. They'll most likely just think I've been delayed and I'm running a day late. Besides, it's kind of an obligatory visit, if you know what I mean." "..._So there __is__ a phone I can use here."_ Rufus thought to himself._ "Wonderful. That will make getting out of here much easier."_

"Oh, you're not looking forward to it huh?"

"Yeah, not exactly. I'll call someone tomorrow. Tonight I just want to get some rest."

"Okay. You're welcome to stay here as long as you'd like."

Rufus took another spoonful of his soup.

"How is it?"

"The soup? It's good. It's actually the first hot meal I've had all day."

"Really? Well I'm glad you like it."

Silence resumed for a little while, as Rufus continued to eat and Tifa sat in her chair, trying to think up more ideas for conversation.

"_He obviously has some money." _Tifa thought, remembering the brand name on his jacket, his issue with the spoon and his perfect manners.

"What do you do for a job Rufus?"

"Well, right now I just help out my father with his work. I mostly just do the paperwork and all the office stuff he doesn't want to deal with."

"Oh, so it's like a family business?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"It must be a pretty successful business if you can afford those clothes you're wearing."

Rufus laughed, realizing what her aim had been in starting the conversation about his job. "Actually this is, or rather it used to be, my good suit." He said, in an attempt to mislead her into thinking he was not as rich as he actually was. "My family likes me to dress up when I visit."

"Oh, how horrible. That suit must have cost so much money. I'm sorry it got ruined."

"Don't worry, its fine. I'll be able to get another one. Besides, my family should have something at their house for me to wear when I get there."

"They live on the plate?"

"Yeah… You said you were a bartender, right? What's that like?" Rufus asked, sensing the current conversation he was having was getting a little too dangerous for his liking.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm the bartender here. It's a pretty good job. It makes me enough money to get by and I get to learn all of the town gossip and meet lots of new people."

"Oh, well that's nice." Rufus replied, trying not to sound too indifferent. "At least you enjoy it. And, you get to be your own boss; that's always a plus."

* * *

By the time Rufus had finished his meal and the potions, he had painfully, but politely endured every question from if he was married to what his favorite color was. He found himself undyingly thankful that he had paid attention through every painfully boring class on Manners and Public Relations he had ever taken.

"I think I've talked enough about me." Rufus put the tray with his empty potions and dirty dishes on the nightstand and carefully reclined back onto his pillows. "Let's hear about you."

"Me? Well, okay, if you want to. I'm not really the most interesting person in the world."

"It's only fair that I should get to learn about you after I've told you about myself. You are my hostess, after all. If you get too boring, I'll let you know and then you can ask me some more questions." Rufus replied with a smirk.

Tifa smiled unconfidently, not completely able to tell whether he had meant his last statement as a joke or not, and started to tell him about herself.

As she talked, Rufus discovered that her company was much less annoying when she wasn't prodding him for personal information. In fact, he not only found that it was more tolerable, but it was actually somewhat enjoyable. Rufus was interested, not so much in _what_ she was saying, but _how _she was saying it. She had a sincere, slightly unsure way of talking. Almost as if she genuinely cared what he thought about what she was saying. It was a different experience for Rufus, who was used to women like Scarlet and his mother, who would say anything a guy wanted to hear in an attempt to get inside their pants, their wallets or a combination of both.

Tifa told him about her childhood in Nibelheim, Zangan her martial arts teacher and the new friends she was living with in Midgar, being careful to leave out the parts dealing with Avalanche and Shinra.

"So why'd you leave Nibelheim for the slums of Midgar?"

"Same reason as you." Tifa lied, wanting to keep the real reason a secret**. **No one was supposed to have escaped from the accident in Nibelheim alive and if Shinra somehow found out about her survival, both her and her friends' lives could be put in serious danger. "I just wanted to see what the city was like. Except I um, ran into some money troubles on the way."

"_Even though he doesn't work at Shinra, he lives in Junon so he most likely supports them." _Tifa frowned. She didn't want to think of Rufus as her enemy and she certainly didn't want him to think less of her because of her feelings towards the company. He seemed like a nice person. So far he had treated her very politely despite the obvious differences in their social classes and he didn't seem to exhibit any of the arrogant, self-serving, qualities that she despised Shinra and most of its supporters for. Still, she wanted to know where he stood. She was living in Avalanche's headquarters after all, and she didn't want to risk putting her friends in any kind of danger. And on a personal note, she wanted to get a feel for how close she should allow herself to become to him.

"Rufus?"

"Hm?"

Tifa paused and looked down, thinking about the best way to ask him.

"What do you think of the Shinra Company?"

Rufus was almost unable to hide his astonishment.

"_Where the hell did that question come from?" _He knew he would have to be very careful about how he answered this one. However, if he managed to answer it right, he would hopefully be able to learn her feelings towards the company, and find out how carefully he should be hiding his identity.

"I think that the company's being run under poor leadership right now, but I don't mind them I suppose. …I've been through my share of problems with them."

Tifa looked up towards Rufus in surprise.

"But that's kind of personal; I don't like to talk about it, sorry."

"That's alright. I, I'm the same way. I've had some… problems, with Shinra too… Well," said Tifa getting up out of her chair and looking over at the clock. "I should let you get some sleep now Rufus. It's getting late and you've had a long day."

Rufus let out a yawn. "Have a good night Miss... Lockheart, wasn't it?"

"Yep, that's right, but you can just call me Tifa." Tifa turned out the lights and made her way to the door of the bedroom.

"You have a good night too, Rufus."

* * *

_**More Notes:** Woohoo! Chapter 3 is finally up! __  
Tifa certainly is getting the wrong impression of Rufus isn't she? Heheh, don't worry she'll be straightened out in the next couple of chapters. xD __I have to admit, I'm a little nervous about submitting this chapter. _:s_ I don't know how good I am with dialogue, I've never written so much of it before..._

_A big thank you to everyone who took the time to give me tips/review/favorite/put my story on alert on the first two chapters!! __Oh, and to **Alyde**: Yeah, Marlene is 4 years old in the game, but this story is taking place a few years before the original game. Sorry for the confusion!_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer:  
**_Storyline = Mine  
Characters, Locations, Everything Else = Square Enix's

_**Notes:**_  
'_text in italics'_ represents thoughts  
'regular text' is speech/narration

**If Only Love Was Simple**

**RufusxTifa**

**Chapter 4:**

Tifa slowly opened her eyes and groggily turned to face her alarm clock, only to find it missing. As the events that had occurred the day before came flooding back into her half-awakened mind, Tifa suddenly remembered that she had spent the night in Marlene's room and that she had left her alarm clock, which was still set for 7:00AM, in her room, where Rufus was sleeping. Tifa jumped out of bed and ran down to the first floor to look at the time.

"7:15?!" she shouted. "I'm late!"

On weekdays Seventh Heaven opened at 8:00AM, which left Tifa with only 45 minutes to shower, get dressed, make something for her and Rufus to eat and finish a few last minute preparations before opening the bar.

Tifa dashed back up the stairs to her room and quietly opened the door. Rufus was asleep, but had obviously been awakened earlier by the alarm, as her radio alarm clock was turned sideways and the white flower that had been lying next to it was now on the floor. Tifa quickly picked up the flower and placed it back on the nightstand before quietly rushing to her dresser drawer to pick out some clothes.

Despite her best efforts to be quick yet quiet about gathering her things, Rufus was able to hear her movements in the room and began to wake up. Giving a sleepy groan he stiffly sat up and squinted his eyes to see what was going on.

"Morning." Tifa said cheerfully "Sorry I woke you up. It's just that the bar opens in less than an hour and I'm running late."

Rufus yawned. "There was an alarm that went off about 20 minutes ago."

"Yeah, that was the time I woke up yesterday. I forgot to reset my alarm for an earlier time, and take it into the other room with me last night. Tifa responded, continuing to gather her things. "I'll bring up breakfast for you after I take my shower, okay?"

Rufus nodded in approval and let out another yawn as he watched Tifa hurriedly leave the room. Laying back down, Rufus stared at the ceiling, knowing that it would be futile for him to try to go back to sleep now that he had been disturbed a second time.

Focusing his attention to his current predicament, he realized that the worst was over. All that was left to do now was call Corneo and wait for the Don to come and get him and take him back to Shinra. Only one thing posed as a possible threat to his survival now: his father.

By now his father would know that the chopper had crashed and that his son's body was nowhere to be found. Because a few of the Turks had watched Rufus board the helicopter that morning and because a copter shooting would be too risky to stage, the idea of some sort of a plot to fake his death and betray the company would be ruled out. Also, as there was no demand for ransom, the President would conclude his son as missing and would have the company begin a search for him.

Rufus just hoped that his father would be intelligent enough to not make a public announcement about his disappearance. Now that his hostess' feelings about the Shinra Company had been confirmed, there was a possibility that things could turn fatally dangerous for him if she were to learn that her rich guest from Junon was actually Shinra's Vice President.

Getting himself back into a sitting position, Rufus decided that he felt recovered enough to try and walk. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed and lowering his feet to the floor, Rufus slowly added more and more pressure to them until he was standing upright with his hands behind him on the bed for balance. He had never felt so stiff and sore in his life. Carefully, he removed his hands from the bed and took a step forward. At first, Rufus was a bit unsteady and his legs were filled with a dull pain, but he found that the more steps he took, the easier walking became.

Rufus slowly made his way to the window and looked outside. Ramshackle houses and trash lined the streets, a few kids dressed in stained mismatched clothing were laughing as they kicked around a tin can and a number of equally grubby looking adults were walking around or sleeping next to piles of garbage.

Above him, the Plate put the cherry on top of the sundae of filth and poverty that was below it, by only allowing in enough light to illuminate the dust particles floating in the air; giving the entire atmosphere a hazy, poisonous feel.

Suddenly, the sound of running water in another room made Rufus remember that he was just about as disgusting as his surroundings and that he desperately needed to take a shower, or perhaps three or four, himself.

* * *

Tifa rushed through her shower and the rest of her morning routine, in record setting time, not even bothering to dry her hair or put her makeup and other bathroom accessories away before flying down the stairs to make breakfast for Rufus and herself.

There was no time to cook a full breakfast so a quick alternative would have to do. Reaching into the pantry, Tifa pulled out the first cereal box she saw and ran over to the cupboard to get bowls and spoons.

Glancing at the box to see what she had grabbed, a grin spread over Tifa's face. _"Well, I sure hope he likes 'Ton-Berries', because that's what he's getting."_ She thought to herself as she speedily poured the sugary, berry-flavored, children's cereal and some milk into the bowls.

Tifa poured a glass of apple juice, grabbed a spoon and one of the bowls of cereal and carefully walked with them up the stairs to her room.

As the door opened, Rufus broke his gaze on the town below and turned around.

"Here's some breakf-- You're standing!" Tifa said as she looked towards him, happy and surprised to see her injured guest up and moving around.

"Yes, I'm feeling much better today."

"Good, I'm glad. Here, I made you some cereal." She said putting the cereal and the glass of apple juice on the tray from the night before and taking away the used dishes. "It's no first class meal, but I just don't have the time to make you anything better today."

Rufus, who was more interested in getting clean than in filling his stomach, automatically responded "I'm sure this will be fine…" before inquiring "Would it be okay if I use your shower after I eat?"

"Sure, it's the second door down the hallway to your right."

"Thanks."

"Yep." Tifa looked over at the clock. "Actually, I've pretty much caught up from being late this morning so if you want, you can put your clothes outside the bathroom door and I'll throw them in the wash for you while you're in the shower. A friend of mine who lives here has some clothes that would probably fit you, so I'll bring you some of his clothes to wear while yours are being washed."

"You're sure he won't mind?" Rufus asked, a little skeptical about wearing a stranger's clothes.

"Oh he's on vacation right now so he'll never even know. Well, I've gotta go have something to eat myself before I get the bar open. I'll be downstairs if you need anything."

Rufus nodded and grabbed the tray with his breakfast on it as Tifa exited the room. Sitting down on the chair that Tifa had sat in the night before, he put the tray in his lap and looked at the cereal; poking the colorful kernels that faintly resembled lanterns, knives and little reptile-looking creatures and pushing them around with his spoon.

It wasn't that Rufus didn't know what cereal was; he had seen advertisements for it on TV, on billboards and in magazines, he even knew a few higher-ups in the cereal business; he had just never actually tasted it. Scooping up a spoonful of the cereal and putting it in his mouth, Rufus found it to be crunchy, overly sugary and very foreign and artificial tasting, and by the time he was finished eating it, he was left wondering how it ever got to be so popular.

Putting the used dishes and the tray on top of the nightstand, Rufus took his ID and other belongings out of his pockets, put them under the mattress for safekeeping, and made his way out of Tifa's room and into the hallway.

Rufus opened the door that Tifa had instructed him led to the bathroom and flipped the light switch. The bathroom was small; very small. It was also quite messy. The large puddle next to the bathtub and the scattered articles of makeup, hair accessories and other things cluttering the sink made it obvious that his hostess had rushed with great speed through her normal routine. Forcing himself to overcome claustrophobia, Rufus shut the door and began to prepare for his shower.

After removing his clothing down to his boxers, Rufus paused and wondered if she had actually meant to wash all of his clothing. Quickly, he mentally debated whether it would be worse to wear his own underwear that had already been worn for a day, or to wear a stranger's. Deciding the latter to be the greater of the two evils, Rufus folded up his clothing, except for his underwear and his socks, and placed it in a neat pile outside the bathroom door, before finally removing his remaining clothing and his bandages and stepping into the shower.

Already beginning to feel refreshed with the hot water running down his body, Rufus turned to the small selection of bottles and found that there was only one choice of shampoo. Putting a huge glop of it in his hand, he began to scrub in into his hair, digging his finger tips into his scalp to make sure the shampoo got all the way down to his roots.

When Rufus had finished thoroughly washing his hair, he stepped into the water to rinse it. A surge of stinging pain shot through the front of his legs as the soap ran over the cuts and gouges on them. Wincing, Rufus looked down at his legs and saw that since Tifa had only tended to the injuries on the top half of his body, the injuries on his bottom half hadn't begun to heal as nicely. Making a mental note to ask Tifa for some kind of medicine he could put on his legs, Rufus repositioned himself in the shower so the soap wouldn't run over the front of his legs and returned to rinsing his hair.

* * *

In between washing up the dishes she brought down from her room and setting out the most popular choices of alcohol on the counter behind the bar, Tifa downed spoonfuls of 'Ton-Berries' and drank gulps of her apple juice. After finishing her breakfast, she put her dishes in the sink and hurried into Biggs' room.

Pulling out a set of his clothes, she folded them nicely and went to the bathroom door to lay them there for Rufus. As she arrived at the door, she found Rufus' clothes folded neatly in a pile. Tifa gave the pile a skeptical look, surprised that, not only did Rufus care enough about his clothes to fold them when they were dirty, but also that he actually knew how to fold them.

"_Too bad Barret, Wedge and Biggs aren't here. They could learn a thing or two from Rufus about how to fold clothes."_

Tifa replaced Rufus' dirty clothes with Biggs' clean ones and ran off to the washing machine. Looking through the clothes to find the washing instructions, Tifa found that half of Rufus' outfit: his pants and jackets all said 'DRY CLEAN ONLY'.

"_Is there even a dry cleaners in the slums? Oh well, at least I'll be able to clean the shirts under his jackets."_

After throwing all the 'DRY CLEAN ONLY' articles of clothing into a separate pile, Tifa tossed his black turtle neck to the side for later, threw his white shirt into the washing machine and turned it on.

Rushing back downstairs, Tifa quickly washed her breakfast dishes and was just finishing drying up the counter by the sink as her first customer came in.

"Mornin' Teef. The usual." He said, sitting down on one of the barstools.

"Morning Rob." Tifa replied as she poured Rob, who was one of her weekday regulars, a glass of his favorite beer. "How's life been treating you lately?"

"Ah, the same, the same… Hasn't got any better, hasn't gotten any worse… Thankfully… Work still barely gets my bills paid, Charlotte still hangs up on me when I call her and I still need a few beers in the morning to make it through the day and a few more after work to make it through the night… And that's where you come in darling: without you, life wouldn't even be bearable." he replied raising up his glass of beer to her in a toast before taking a big gulp.

Tifa playfully rolled her eyes at Rob's toast and his stereotypical story that she was sure to hear several more times throughout the day in slightly different variations, from the bar's other patrons.

"What about you beautiful, anything new happening in your life?" He asked her, setting his glass back on the counter.

"Not really, just looking after the Marlene and the bar until Barret and the others get back. What an exciting life we both have she said with a laugh, purposely not mentioning her special house guest in an effort to keep gossip from spreading.

As a big wave of customers came into the bar, Tifa was torn from her conversation with Rob and had to get to work. The morning rush had begun.

* * *

After thoroughly washing his hair a second time, conditioning it and using one-fourth of a new bar of soap, making sure to be especially careful around the wounds on his legs, Rufus was finally done with his shower. The hot water had gone out shortly after he had finished washing his hair, which had made the rest of his shower cold and miserable and Rufus was happy to get out of the cold water and dry off.

Opening the bathroom door a crack, after he had finished drying off and putting on the articles of clothing he had kept with him in the bathroom, Rufus grabbed the replacement clothes and unfolded them to see what they were like. The outfit consisted of an army green pair of pants, an olive green shirt, a red headband, brown gauntlets with a metal rim around the wrists, a black belt, a strange, extra brown belt with pockets that seemed to be meant to fall loosely around the waist, and a shoulder device that looked like a parachute harness without the parachute.

Realizing that it probably would have been a good idea to have asked to see the clothes before he agreed to wear them, Rufus sighed and, forcing himself to come to terms with the fact that his only other option was going around in nothing but his underwear, he began to put them on.

After slipping on the pants, Rufus dug through the bathroom cabinets in an attempt to see if he could find some sort of medicine to use on his remaining injuries. His efforts failed to produce any sort of medicine, but to his pleasant surprise, he did end up finding a hairdryer and a comb.

When his hair had been blow-dried to his satisfaction Rufus put on the shirt, which he discovered was made of a fabric that was annoyingly itchy, collected the other strange parts of his new temporary apparel, and walked back to his room. Laying the other items on the bed, Rufus decided that his efforts to comply with the dress code of the slums ended before the red headband and he proceeded to put on the other accessories.

While Rufus was engaged in a fierce one-on-one battle with the 'parachute harness', Tifa, slipped through the door unnoticed. After briefly watching him struggle, she let out a chuckle and decided to assist him.

"Here, let me help." She said, walking over to him and helping him buckle the strange apparatus correctly. "There. How do you feel now?"

Brushing his bangs out of his face, Rufus studied his image in the mirror and found himself struggling to remain straight faced. "Absolutely and completely ridiculous."

Tifa began to laugh, causing Rufus to turn and crack a questioning half-smile in her direction.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm sure my friend would feel pretty ridiculous in your clothes too." Tifa replied, attempting to quell her laughter.

There was no doubt that he looked very out of place in Biggs' clothing, but despite the awkwardness he obviously felt, Tifa still noticed the same charming, elegant presence about him that she had noticed earlier when he had been unconscious on her bed. Since she now knew that that he came from a wealthy family, those vibes were no longer strange or surprising, but they still managed to give him an almost make-believe quality that made him an intriguing, exciting break from Tifa's daily life.

Suddenly her eyes locked with Rufus' and she realized that she had been staring at him for a few minutes. Tifa's eyes widened at her realization and she immediately lowered them to the ground and wracked her brain for something of some importance say to end the embarrassing moment she had brought upon herself.

"I, heard the shower stop so I just came up to check on you and tell you that there isn't a dry cleaners around here so I can't wash your jackets or your pants; but I am able to wash your other shirts." Tifa said, forcing herself to look up at him again.

"Mmh. _Well, at least she knew better than to wash my suit anyway and ruin it."_ He thought to himself.

"When I take my lunch break I'll make you something to eat too. Until then feel free to read a book," she said pointing to the bookshelf "or sleep or whatever you want. You can also come down stairs and sit at the bar and watch TV if you like."

"I think I'll just stay up here for awhile, thanks."

"Okay, well I'll see you at lunch then." Tifa replied before walking through the door and closing it behind her.

Rufus walked over to the bookshelf and scanned the books for something interesting to read.

"_Let's see what we have here: 'Fitness and You', 'Martial Arts: Enhancing Your Life', '101 Quick Exercises for a Busy Lifestyle', 'Secret Desires', 'A Promise Kept'_, '_Forbidden Passions'- ugh." _Rufus flashed an expression of annoyance before skipping over the remaining Romance Novels and continuing his scan of the bookshelf._" 'Raising Children: Toddlers', 'The Dos and Don'ts of Raising Kids', 'Coping With the Loss of Loved Ones', 'Life Isn't Fair, Get Used to It', 'Keys to Being a Successful Entrepreneur'-_ _Hm. She must actually be serious about running this bar."_ Rufus picked up the last book and skimmed through it. Some of the pages' corners were folded and some lines of the text were highlighted throughout the book. All the things in the book were very basic things that he had learned before college, but it was still impressive to see that a person from the slums would care enough about work to buy a book on running a business and take it seriously.

Rufus put the book back on the self and turned around. Suddenly, a familiar container on top of the dresser caught his eye. Approaching it, Rufus discovered that it was the medicine that Tifa had used to tend to his injuries with the previous night. Noticing that there was no lock on the bedroom door, Rufus made his way back to the bathroom to remove his pants and applied the medicine to the cuts and bruises on his legs before redressing himself and heading back into the bedroom.

After he had reentered the bedroom, Rufus directed his attention to the old piano he had seen in the corner of the room when he had first regained consciousness. Walking over to it, he pushed a few of the keys, surprised to find that the piano was not as out of tune as it looked. With nothing better to do at the moment, Rufus flipped through the music book that was sitting on the music stand, found a song that looked interesting, sat down on the piano chair and began to play.

* * *

Tifa's stomach grumbled as she stood at the counter, mixing drinks for her customers.

"_Only eight more minutes 'till lunch." _She thought, looking at the clock. Tifa took her lunch break at 11:30 every day, that way she could start work again in a half hour and not miss the lunch rush. After she had handed her last customer his drink, she went over to the refrigerator and the pantry and pulled out the ingredients she would need to make tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

As the clock ticked closer to 11:30, most of the customers said their goodbyes and left, except for an elderly group of Tifa's regulars that she trusted, who stayed at their table, talking and watching TV.

With only a minute left to go, Tifa flipped the grilled cheese sandwiches on the stove and was setting out plates, cups and bowls for Rufus and herself when she heard someone come through the door.

"Sorry, I'm on break now. We open again at noon." Tifa said without looking up from setting the table.

"All I want is a place to sit and think." He replied before sitting down by himself at the table closest to the pinball machine.

"Oh... Well, I suppose you can sit there if you like, but you're going to have to wait until 12:00 if you change your mind about ordering something."

The man made no reply and Tifa cautiously went back to her cooking.

When everything was ready to eat, Tifa set the stove on warm, placed an "On Break" sign on the bar's outside door knob, headed to the laundry to throw Rufus white shirt in the dryer and his turtleneck in the wash, and went up the stairs to tell Rufus that lunch was ready. As she walked up the stairs, the sound of piano music faintly caught her ears. Opening the door a crack, she found Rufus sitting at her piano, playing intently.

Quietly, Tifa slipped into the room and sat down on the bed to listen to him play. The song was lively and cheery with hints of a military-like march in the accompaniment. Tifa watched Rufus' fingers glide speedily and smoothly across the ivory keys as he played, never missing a note. Near the end of the song Rufus began to play the melody in octaves and increased the pressure he put on the keys, before finally finishing off the song with a string of staccato chords, putting the full weight of his fingers into the last one. Tifa started to clap and a startled Rufus forced himself to not show his surprise as he turned in the direction of the clapping.

"How long have you been sitting there?" He asked with one eyebrow slightly raised.

"Not too long. I came in during the middle of that last song… You're really good. How long have you been playing?"

"Since I was four. My old man heard that playing piano was supposed to make kids smarter, so he got a private tutor for me… You play piano too, then?"

"Yeah. I'm not quite as good as you are though. I started playing when I was seven but I'm very out of practice. I haven't played in a while."

"I haven't played in quite some time myself. Work, among other things, has kept me very busy." Rufus responded, seeming to drift off into his own world of thought.

"Well, lunch is ready, so come on downstairs and we'll eat." Tifa said, as she started to make her way towards the door.

Rufus followed Tifa down to the kitchen, annoyed at the presence of the seemingly needless, extra belt on his outfit that was irritatingly brushing against his legs as he walked. Rufus took a seat where Tifa had set a place for him and was glad to see that the bar was mostly empty of customers.

"Hey, Tifa. Could I make a phone call after lunch?"

"Sure." Tifa answered, setting the food down on the plates she had set out and sitting down on a stool she had moved to her side of the bar, across from Rufus. She pointed towards a door near the back of the bar. "It's in that storage room over there whenever you're ready."

Rufus, who had already begun eating, nodded in response and looked in the direction Tifa had pointed. After seeing the door, his attention was directed next to it, where several awards in cheap frames, a few of which had cracks in the glass, were hanging.

"This must be quite a popular place around here." he said, motioning towards the awards.

Tifa saw what he was referring to and gave him a modest smile. "The people here seem to like Seventh Heaven a lot. It's no 5-star restaurant, but it's a nice place for people to take a break from the stress of their daily lives. The slums here in Sector 7 are also pretty quiet, as far as slums go. We don't have near as many fights or robberies as the other slums like Wall Market, so I guess people feel safer here too."

"Oh, I see."

"Yep, we have a lot of regulars." She said nodding in the direction of the table that was still full. "Those guys hang out here every day before they start their afternoon shifts. The bar is technically closed right now, but they're a good, quiet group so I usually let them stay. …That guy over there in the corner though, I've never seen him before."

Rufus slyly stole a glance in the direction of the stranger. The man was about Rufus' own height with a slightly bigger build. He was dressed in what Rufus had come to know as the normal apparel of the people of the slums, and had dark facial features and an expression that said he'd fought and won more than his share of fights.

Rufus turned back to face Tifa. "Well, in my opinion, he's just as suspicious and shady looking as everyone else down here; but if he seems off to you, you should keep your eye on him. You know the people around here better than I do."

Tifa nodded and paused, realizing that he had just insulted people of the slums. "So, am I suspicious and shady looking too?" She asked with a hint of daring in her tone.

Rufus gave an amused chuckle and looked Tifa straight in the eyes, surprised that she was not only able to return his gaze but also that she was bold enough to ask him a something like that. Up until now she had seemed almost shy.

"You, Miss Lockheart," he said, folding his hands on the counter with a smug expression on his face, "are the one rare exception I have encountered as of yet."

Remembering, suddenly, that he should be trying to stay on as good as possible terms with his hostess, Rufus quickly put an end to the fun little heated discussion he had just started, put a serious look back on his face and whipped up an apologetic excuse.

"But please don't be too angry at that comment, Miss Lockheart. It's a completely different world down here than from what I'm used to. This is my first time in the slums after all. It's hard to tell the good people apart from the bad, since you all seem the same to me. In comparison, people from my society probably all seem very similar as well, from your point of view. And I would be very surprised indeed if there wasn't a generic, negative stereotype that the people down here have for the wealthy."

He was right, now that she thought about it, Tifa realized that she generally thought of all rich people as self-centered, arrogant, greedy, Shinra supporters and she was embarrassed at the sudden realization that her hate for Shinra had made her as prejudiced towards the rich, as Rufus was towards the poor.

"I guess you have a point."

Rufus inwardly grinned, happy to have been able to successfully BS his way out of the mess he had almost created. "I suppose that makes us equal then, doesn't it?

"Yeah. I suppose it does."

* * *

After inquiring Tifa about her abilities in martial arts and getting a new conversation started, the rest of lunch went along smoothly until finally, Rufus looked down at his plate and found it empty.

"I think I'm going to go make that call now."

Tifa nodded and began to clean up the dishes they used for lunch as Rufus made his way to the phone.

"Hey, Tifa." One of the regulars called, waving her over to their table. "So who's that lucky young fella?" He asked her when she had reached their table. "And what happened to his clothes? If I'm not mistaken, the clothes he's wearing happen to belong to Biggs."

"Barret and the others take off for a couple days and you finally get your chance to have a little fun, huh?" Another playfully added.

Tifa could feel the heat from her face turning red as she realized what it must have looked like to them when they saw Rufus come down the stairs to eat with her. She gave an embarrassed smile and vaguely explained the situation to them, to which they responded with half-believing smiles and 'if you say so'-like comments. A tap on the shoulder made Tifa jump and turn around to find Rufus standing behind her.

"Would you happen to have a phone number database of some sort?"

Tifa was relieved that Rufus had not seemed to overhear the conversation she had just been having.

"You don't know the number?" She asked.

"It was in my Contacts List in my PHS, which was destroyed in the accident, so I never had to memorize it."

"Oh. Well does a phone book count as a phone number whatever-you-called-it."

Rufus shot Tifa a questioning smirk."Yeah, it does."

Tifa walked over to the drawer behind the bar where she kept the phone book and brought it back to Rufus. "It might not have the numbers for the Plate in it though."

Fortunately, Rufus didn't need to call anyone from the Plate. The majority of the people living there had unlisted numbers to begin with, so even if the phonebook did contain a listing for the Plate, it would still be practically useless.

"It's worth a try though. Thanks."

Rufus walked back to the storeroom and set the gigantic, outdated method of looking up phone numbers down with a thud on a counter, flipping through the pages to 'Cor'. After finding the Don's number: which was impossible to miss because it had its own separate box containing a mugshot of the Don, his name in big letters, his regular phone number and a special 'hotline' for girls interested in working at the Honey Bee Inn, or in him; Rufus mentally shuddered in disgust at himself for having to stoop this low for help, before dialing the number into the phone.

* * *

_**Notes: **Well, here it is: Chapter 4. Sorry if I bored anybody with the lack of plot development, but hopefully you liked it anyway because I liked writing it. XD The good news is that this chapter is actually only the first part of a longer chapter that I decided to split into two because it was too long. So instead of having to wait another half of a year for the next chapter (which, by the way is much more crucial to the plot of the story), you should only have to wait a couple weeks at most for me to put the finishing touches on the second part and get it uploaded. _

_Thank you to everyone who reviewed/favorited/etc. my story since my last update! Review if you wish and I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: **_Don't worry everybody, I haven't bought Square Enix. ;) Everything but the storyline is still theirs so don't sue me. The money you would spend in court costs would be much more than I would be able to give you. XD

_**Notes:**_  
'_text in italics'_ represents thoughts  
'regular text' is speech/narration

**If Only Love Was Simple**

**RufusxTifa**

**Chapter 5:**

"Don Corneo's Mansion. State your business."

"I need to speak with the Don."

"Ya do, ah? Well the Don don't just talk ta anybody ya know. He's a very busy man."

"I'm sure he is. But he's going to talk to me."

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that after I find out who this is, hotshot."

Rufus rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Just tell him that the Shinra Electric Power Company has some very important business it would like to discuss with him."

The man on the other end of the line paused "…I see. The Don's not actually here right now, but I'll forward your call to his PHS."

After a few minutes of silence, the Don's cheery, unmistakable voice blared into the receiver. "This is Don Corneo."

"Corneo, this is Rufus Shinra, Vice President of the Shinra Company." He said, making sure to keep his voice low. "I have a favor to ask of you."

"You name it Junior! I'm always ready to help out the Shinra."

Rufus cringed at the pet name Corneo had addressed him with. "My copter was shot down in the woods a few miles north-west of the Mythril Mines. I've managed to make it safely to a bar in the slums of Midgar, but I'm in need of some help in returning safely to Headquarters."

"Sure thing! I'll come get you tomorrow, sometime late in the afternoon. How does-"

"I do not want to wait until tomorrow afternoon. I want you to come get me now."

"Now, now kiddo. You can't just call someone out of the blue and expect them to be ready to tend to your every need. Me and my boys have plans! I'm on a plane right now heading towards Costa del Sol."

Rufus let out an exasperated sigh."If you can't come yourself, then send one of your cronies."

"Well, I could I suppose. But I insist on personally escorting you myself. I want to be recognized as the person responsible for saving the future President of Shinra! And besides, President Shinra and I haven't spoken personally in a long time and we need to catch up. So where are you anyways, my boy? I can't come to get you if I don't know where to go."

Rufus could feel himself becoming more and more irritated with the Don's attitude with every word he spoke. He was at Corneo's mercy and could see that he wasn't getting anywhere in his demand to be rescued immediately. Making a mental note to notify the President of the Don's unwillingness to cooperate, Rufus gave in, simply wanting to end his conversation with Wall Market's bigwig as soon as possible.

"I'm in the slums of Sector 7. In a bar called Seventh Heaven."

"Ooh! I hear there's a very pretty chicky that works there! Think you could give me an introduction?"

"No, I will not. If you want to meet her you can do it on your own time. Here is what is going to happen: Tomorrow morning at 8:00, you are going to arrive at Seventh Heaven in your car. You will have your driver beep the horn three times. I will come out and then you will drive me directly to Shinra Headquarters. Is that clear?"

"Ehh, why so early in the morning? Can't you wait until a little later in the day?"

"I'm not on a vacation Corneo. If these people find out who I am I will be killed. You need to come as early as possible."

"Oh, alright, alright."

"I will see you tomorrow morning at 8:00. Do not be late."

"Okay Junior. I'll be there."

Rufus hung up the phone in disgust and walked out of the storeroom.

"How'd it go?"

Rufus faked a smile. "It went well, but unfortunately the soonest I can be picked up at 8:00 tomorrow morning, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to be your burden for one more night yet."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I don't mind at all. I'm glad you were able to get ahold of someone."

"Yes. Me too."

* * *

Throughout the rest of the day, Rufus sat at the bar away from the other customers and switched between glancing at the TV and staring at the clock, while Tifa continued serving drinks. Suddenly, the sound of over-dramatic music caught Rufus' ear, causing him to turn his attention away from the systematic ticking of the clock's second hand, towards the TV.

"Welcome to Channel 4 News, Midgar's #1 News Station. It's 8:00PM and we have the news you want to hear!"

As the anchors blabbed about the traffic on the plate, the weather forecast and the latest Chocobo race winners, Rufus lost interest and amused himself with the grooves in the wooden bar counter.

"-Yesterday a Shinra helicopter headed for Midgar from Junon carrying two passengers, crash-landed somewhere near the Mythril Mines."

Rufus froze and felt himself tense uncontrollably. A few of the bar's customers applauded behind him, while others shouted at the TV.

"Serves 'em right!"

"I hope they burn in hell!"

A few people at the bar made quiet comments to Tifa and Tifa herself, was smiling brightly and seemed to be excited about the news.

Suddenly, Tifa looked away from her customers and met Rufus' gaze. She gave him an awkward smile, as if to say she understood how uncomfortable this situation must be for him.

Rufus smiled back, grateful that she was ignorant of how uncomfortable he actually was and why, and looked down at his hands, which were now folded on the bar counter.

"Few details have been released, but we do know that an executive was on board. There has been no word yet as to the survival of the copter's passengers."

Rufus breathed a mental sigh of relief both grateful, that neither his picture, his name or his title had been announced, and angry that such an unnecessary announcement had been made to the public.

"Okay everyone, I'm going on break for dinner. Clear out!" Tifa said cheerfully. As the people began to leave, Tifa walked around to all the tables, collected the tips and empty mugs and glasses and put them in a safe behind the counter and the sink respectively.

Glancing around the room Tifa saw that the strange dark haired visitor, who had first entered the bar just before lunch, was still in his seat and was showing no intention of leaving. Tifa had let him stay during her lunch break, figuring that he was having a tough time with things; but his behavior throughout the day had been continuing to make her more and more nervous. Every so often, he would take out a PHS and leave the bar to talk on it, only to return later and sit down in a different seat, never ordering anything.

"Sorry sir," Tifa said after she had walked over to him. "I'd like everyone to leave while I'm on break for dinner please."

Without a word the man rose from his chair and walked out.

Tifa walked into the storeroom and dialed the number for the pizza guy. Since the time she usually spent cooking dinner would be spent going to Biggs' sister's house, helping Marlene pack up her things and taking her home, pizza would have to do for the night's meal. And if she timed things right, the delivery guy would arrive soon after she returned, giving her just enough time to unpack Marlene's things, throw Rufus' other shirt in the dryer and set the table. After her order had been completed, Tifa walked back into the main bar area and turned to Rufus.

"I have to go and pick up my friend's daughter Marlene from her babysitter, so I'll be back soon. Help yourself to a drink if you get thirsty. I ordered pizza so dinner should arrive soon after I get back."

Rufus nodded and after Tifa made her way through the front door, stood up to stretch his legs, which were still a little sore from the accident. As he stretched, the blinking lights of the pinball machine caught his eye.

Deciding that he would try it out, Rufus walked over to it and looked at it more closely. It only took him a second to figure out its simple controls: two buttons for the flippers, one lever to release the ball. Rufus pulled the release lever and began to play. He found that for a game with such simple mechanics, it had a surprising amount of depth, with extra balls, additional turns given as rewards for doing well and objectives to complete.

* * *

With 1987951 points, Rufus was only 139059 points away from beating the High Score, with only one ball left. He only had to complete a few more objectives and he would be on the top of the leader board.

2086724.

2117954.

With every second bringing him closer to the #1 High Score, victory seemed imminent. That was, it seemed that way; until his ball found its way into a saucer and was shot unpredictably across the playing field. Frantically, Rufus flipped the flippers in an attempt to recover the ball. As the ball soared across the playing area, it ricocheted off of a bumper and fell straight behind his left flipper. With the guard rail having already been dismantled, the ball dropped straight down to the bottom of the machine and rolled to the reload section.

He had lost. High Score: 2127009 His Score: 2126855

Rufus cursed and hit the glass covering the machine's playing field with his fist and paused, glaring at machine, before forcefully pulling the lever to release the ball again and start over, except this time, the ball didn't shoot out. Instead, the entire machine started to make strange noises, the cracks in the floor lit up and Rufus felt himself begin to move downward.

Rufus looked down at the release lever, surprised to find another additional lever sticking out from under the machine that, obviously, he had accidentally pulled instead. Looking under the table, Rufus found that the lever was connected to a small motor which seemed to power the pinball machine and the floor around it like an elevator.

When he had finally stopped moving, Rufus looked around. In one corner were a large TV and a computer, in another corner was a beat up, old punching bag and in the other was a metal table with wooden crates for chairs. Randomly placed storage-boxes lined the walls and a large, red and white skull and crossbones flag, with an 'A' in the middle of the skull, was hung on the wall over the computer. Next to the punching bag was a large dry-erase board with chicken scratch writing all over it and scribbled maps that Rufus couldn't make out. The room was cluttered with papers, filing folders and a few scattered battle items.

"_What the hell is this place?"_

Rufus wandered over to the table and picked up one of the folders. Opening it he discovered that it contained codes to over-ride several security points on the Midgar railway system and Mako Reactors 1 and 5. On the edge of the table were several fake IDs and an instruction manual on a small surface-to-air missile launcher that, strangely enough, was manufactured by Shinra. Rufus flipped through the manual and found a note marking one of the pages.

_Dear Jessie,_

_I hope the STA Missile Launcher works well for you__**. **__I also managed to get my hands on an instruction manual and wrote some of my own tips for how to customize it to your needs in the back. __Hope everything is going well for you and good luck to you and the rest of your friends on your mission._

_Pete_

As he made his way towards the computer, still flipping through the manual, he felt his leg bump something on the computer desk and a folder labeled 'Hunting Season' in big red letters fell to the floor. Bending down to inspect the fallen folder, Rufus' eyes widened in surprise as he discovered its contents. There were records of his copter flight: the make of the helicopter, the flight number, the time and the place it would leave Junon and the path it would take to Midgar. Another paper revealed a detailed plan of where they would make camp (which Rufus recognized as the small campsite he had come across in the mountains, on his way to Midgar), where they would rent mountain chocobos, when and where they would shoot down the copter, their plans if the passengers survived and when they would return to Midgar.

Rufus replaced the 'Hunting Season' folder back on the desk and casually tossed the other one he was carrying back on the other table. Realizing that he should probably head back up the pinball elevator soon so his hostess would not find out about his little discovery, Rufus walked back to the elevator with a triumphant smirk. He had found Avalanche's new headquarters.

"_How ironic," _he thought to himself as the elevator began to ascend to the main floor. _"that the very people who are 'hunting' me are actually helping me get out of the mess they got me into…"  
_

His luck had finally turned. The rest of the terrorist group would not be back from their 'vacation', as Tifa had described it, for several days yet; and even if they did decide to come home early, they would be short one chocobo, a bag of chocobo greens and 200 Gil, which would slow them down long enough for Rufus to be gone before they arrived.

_"Who would have guessed that being delayed would turn out to be so profitable?"_

The next day he would go home in the morning with his life and his pride intact and some very valuable information that he could share with the company… or not. This was a very important secret he had just uncovered, and Rufus knew that it usually paid off to keep valuable information to yourself, at least until the profit to be gained from sharing it was too good to resist.

* * *

Tifa waved goodbye to Biggs' sister and began to walk back towards Seventh Heaven with Marlene.

"Did you get pineapples on the pizza Tifa?"

"Yes I did Marlene."

"Thanks, they're my favorite."

Tifa chuckled. "I know Marlene, that's why I ordered them.

As they approached the steps, Marlene let go of Tifa's hand and made her way up the steps as fast as her two-year-old legs would let her and attempted to open the door. Despite her best efforts, the toddler eventually required her older companion's help to get the door opened and the two of them entered the bar together.

Seeing an unfamiliar shape seated at the bar with a glass of wine, Marlene froze. "Tifa," She whispered. "who's that?"

"He's the 'thing' I couldn't tell you about yesterday. His name's Rufus Shadrick and he got hit by a truck yesterday so he spent the night last night to recover."

"Oh… I thought maybe you'd got me a puppy." Marlene whispered with a slightly disappointed look on her face.

Tifa, who had kept Rufus' presence in the bar from Marlene as an incentive for her to behave and to keep the shy toddler from worrying about having a stranger staying in the bar, laughed quietly at the two year old's logic and whispered "Oh Marlene. You wouldn't have needed to go on a sleepover for something like that. Besides, if Barret came home and found a puppy he would go berserk."

Noticing that someone had come in Rufus turned around to face the door.

"Hi Rufus, I'm back. This is Marlene." Tifa said stepping to the side, revealing the two-year-old who had snuck behind her to hide. "Marlene, say 'hi' to Rufus; he won't bite."

"Hi." Marlene said shyly, looking down at the ground.

Rufus chuckled and returned the greeting, covering up the disinterest he felt. He hadn't been this close a child since he'd been one himself and personally, he found them to be very bothersome.

After throwing Rufus' other shirt in the dryer and helping Marlene unpack her things, Tifa seated the toddler at the bar counter and set it, making sure to bring out silverware for Rufus just in case eating pizza with his hands broke his moral manners code.

After a few minutes of waiting, the pizza guy arrived and dinner was served.

As dinner progressed, Marlene stayed mostly silent, with the exception of a few comments directed toward her older female companion, and stared curiously at Rufus as he ate his food. Tifa chatted with Rufus, asking him about his hobbies and what the weather was normally like in Junon and Rufus kept up the small talk with his hostess and tried to ignore Marlene's staring.

"Why don't you just eat it with your hands?" The toddler finally asked, curiosity getting the better of her as she began to feel more comfortable with the Rufus' presence.

Rufus paused halfway through cutting a piece off of his pizza with his fork and knife, unsure at first of what kind of answer he should give. But as soon as he opened his mouth to respond, Tifa jumped in to his rescue.

"Because he wants to Marlene. That's just the way he likes to eat." She said with a smile.

The two year old gave Tifa a puzzled look, wondering why anyone would prefer using silverware instead of their hands, and was about to inquire the subject further, when she received a warning look from Tifa that made her decide against it. Instead she moved on to her next subject of curiosity.

"How come you're wearing Biggs' clothes?"

"Mine are being washed right now."

"Oh." Marlene said, before pushing her empty plate towards Tifa. "I'm all done!"

Tifa grabbed the toddler's plate and put it in the sink before returning to the table to finish her own food.

"Tifa said that you got hit by a truck. Did it hurt?" Marlene asked, turning on her bar stool to face Rufus.

"Yes." Rufus replied before putting another forkful of pizza in his mouth.

"You should always remember to look both ways before you cross the street. That's what my Papa always says."

Seeing that Rufus, who was obviously not used to being around children, was yet again at a loss for words, Tifa decided to get Marlene busy with something else so her guest could finish his dinner in peace.

"That's right Marlene." She said with a chuckle. "But I think Rufus already knows about that. How about you go upstairs and get ready for bed? Then you can come back down and have dessert and watch some TV before I open the bar again."

"Okay Tifa." The two year old replied happily before hopping down from her seat and heading up the stairs.

"Sorry about Marlene." Tifa said with a laugh. "She's really shy when she meets someone new, but as soon as she gets comfortable with them, you can't get her to stop talking."

"I see that." Rufus replied, giving Tifa a grateful smile.

With Marlene kept busy with a bowl of ice cream and a cartoon on TV, Rufus was able to finish eating without any further conversational discomfort. And soon he found himself back upstairs, preparing to spend the last night he hoped he would ever have to spend, in the slums of Midgar.

Rufus laid down on the bed and relaxed, folding his hands under his head. But just as soon as his moment of relaxation had begun, it ended, with a sudden knock on his door.

"Come in."

As he suspected, the culprit was none other than his hostess.

"Here are your clothes." she said as she entered the room. "Sorry again, for not being able to wash everything."

"It's fine." Rufus replied, who was just happy to get out of the terrorist costume he was currently dressed in. Gratefully, he accepted the clothes and put them on the bed.

"Well, you already know that you're free to come downstairs if you want, but all I ask is that if you do any moving around, you're extra quiet about it because I just put Marlene to bed."

Rufus nodded. "I will most likely just get to sleep so I can wake up early and freshen up before I leave tomorrow morning."

"Okay. Well, good night then, Rufus. See you in the morning." Tifa called from the doorway.

"Goodnight Miss Lockheart."

After Tifa had shut the door, Rufus quickly changed back into his own clothes and let out a sigh of relief. It felt so good to be back in his own clothes. Even if most of them were still dirty, their expensive fabric and comfortable, custom-designed fit was so much better than the itchy getup he had been wearing for most of the day. Rufus retrieved his sawed-off shotgun from under his pillow and his ID and other affects from under the mattress and put them safely in his pockets before laying down on the bed and drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Tifa made her way back downstairs and reopened her bar, which was soon bustling again within twenty minutes. Among the customers she noticed that the strange man who had been coming in and out of the bar the whole day, had also returned, except this time he sat down at the bar, on the bar stool closest to the wall.

"Finally decided to order something?" Tifa casually asked.

The man glared at her as if she were a nuisance and said "Water."

Tifa poured a glass of water and gave it to the man who unsurprisingly, made no response and took a small sip of the water before placing it to the side and returning to his usual silent demeanor.

As the night moved on, Tifa was kept busy with serving drinks, chatting with regulars, including Rob who had returned for his 'drinks to help him make it through the night', dismissing drunken 'suitors' and breaking up potential fights, but whenever she had time to think, she found that she couldn't keep her thoughts away from Rufus.

Even though she had gotten to spend a good part of her day with him, she still felt that it hadn't been enough. She wanted more time to get to know even more and to let him get to know her. The more she thought about it, she realized that her interest in this man she had barely known for two days was coming close to rivaling the initial interest she had felt for Cloud after he had told her of his plans to join SOLDIER, the night before he left. Of course, Tifa's feelings for Cloud went way deeper than her attraction to her houseguest, but the knowledge that the attraction she felt to him was the same as the initial attraction she had felt to Cloud was exciting, and a little scary. And since choice #1 had, unfortunately, been MIA since the accident at the Nibelheim reactor, Rufus was starting to become a very appealing alternative option. He was funny, polite, attractive, had a lot of money and judging by his shapely muscles, kept up with his fitness despite having an office job.

"_He has everything a woma- "_Immediately, Tifa stopped her train of thought and mentally kicked herself. Besides the fact that he was leaving the next morning and she would never see or hear from him again; he lived in Junon, terrorist bartenders from the slums were most likely not his type, and although he didn't seem to be a 'die-hard' supporter of the Shinra Company, he certainly wasn't on Avalanche's side either, and there was no way she would ever leave her friends. Tifa rolled her eyes at her own immature thoughts and walked over to a customer to take their order.

Before Tifa knew it the clock read 12:00AM: closing time on Mondays. Tifa said goodbye to all her customers and collected her tips before locking the door and beginning to clean up in preparation for the next day.

The sound of glass rolling on wood suddenly caught her attention and she turned around to see a bottle of wine slowly rolling out of the storage room and coming to a stop.

"Marlene? Rufus?" Tifa called, slowly making her way towards the bottle and peering into the pitch black storage room. Reaching down to pick up the bottle, Tifa looked up just in time to see a dark figure lunge at her.

* * *

Rufus groaned, sat up in bed and glanced over at the clock. Half past midnight. He let out another groan and was about to lay back down when he decided he was thirsty and climbed out of bed to get a drink of water.

Quietly, Rufus crept down the stairs, pausing for a moment upon hearing a lone male voice before continuing towards the first floor.

As Rufus put his foot down on the last step, the floor let out a creak, which caused both the bartender and her companion, who were standing in the corner behind the bar counter, to turn towards him.

"You just march your pretty little head right back upstairs Mister. There's nothin' to see here."

Tifa, who looked beaten and exhausted, gazed at Rufus with desperate, pleading eyes and streaks of tears lining her face, silently begging for him to help.

Rufus was only half surprised to recognize the dark haired, shady looking customer of few words that Tifa had asked him about during lunch; who now had Tifa's left arm bent painfully behind her back and a knife pressed to her neck.

The man's right eye was swollen and both he and Tifa were bleeding from the head and sported cuts and bruises; and judging from the broken glass and pieces of a broken barstool, the two had just had quite a battle.

Annoyed at his bad timing in going down to get a drink, Rufus was in no mood to fight. But the knowledge that this man could jeopardize his safe return to Shinra the next morning if he wasn't quickly disposed of, made it impossible for Rufus to ignore the situation. Putting a skeptical look on his face, Rufus stepped down off of the last stair and made his way over to the inside of the bar counter.

"I must say, I'm at a loss in understanding as to why a man as big as you, can't win a fight against a woman half his size without using a weapon."

The man shot Rufus a dark glare and pushed the knife harder against Tifa's neck, causing her to let out a small whimper as she felt the pressure of the blade's sharp edge begin to dig into the delicate skin of her neck.

"Another comment like that and she's gonna be spilling a little bit more than just tears wise guy."

A smirk formed of Rufus' lips. "You aren't going to do that." He said in an amused tone that reflected an adult seeing through an idle threat of a child.

"Oh I'm not?"

"If you came in here with the intent of killing her, you would have done so already, regardless of my presence." Rufus took a quick pause to delight in the silence caused by his opponent's lack of response. "So tell me, I'm curious. What do you intend to do with her?"

Rufus focused on a groove in the bar table and traced it thoughtfully with his index finger. "Did you come here to rob her of what little she has? …Or," He said looking back up towards the intruder. "is this the only way you can convince a woman to get in bed with you?"

Without warning, the man fiercely shoved Tifa to the side and rushed at Rufus. Not expecting to have been able to push the intruder's buttons so easily, Rufus was slightly taken by surprise at the man's sudden rush and made an attempt to dodge; but failed to completely elude the attack and was rewarded with a slice in his left arm. Quickly Rufus reached into his coat and pulled out his shotgun just in time to deflect his opponent's second knife blow and send the knife flying across the room. Rufus smirked arrogantly and was about to remove the safety on his gun when his attacker's fist, armed with brass knuckles, collided with his jaw, sending Rufus to the ground and causing him to lose his grip on his shotgun.

Tifa, who had sunk to the ground in defeat, found that all her strength and confidence was gone, and she could do nothing but watch. It was so unlike her to helplessly watch a fight when someone she knew needed help. She hated the feeling of weakness she felt from losing the battle she had just fought and also the feelings of guilt that ate away at her for not being able to pick herself back up and keep fighting.

"_I don't usually do this sort of thing to my own people, but times are tough and you're worth quite a lot of money it seems. Those pompous assholes up at Shinra start salivating at the mere mention of getting their hands on one of you terrorist scum."_

The intruder's words played over and over again in her head. If Rufus lost, it was all over, Shinra would win, she and all of her friends would be killed, and any hope for saving the planet from being sucked dry by Shinra's mako reactors would be lost.

Rufus lifted his body off of the ground a little and shook his head, trying to regain his senses. With his shotgun now in the hands of his opponent, Rufus knew he had little to no chance of winning unless he found a new weapon and found it fast. Glancing around him for something that could save him from being shot and killed by his own gun, his gaze fell on a bottle of wine a few feet away.

"How the fuck do you…?!" Rufus heard the attacker swear above him, as he hurriedly tried to figure out how to remove the safety on Rufus' custom made gun.

Seeing this as the last chance he would have to make a move, Rufus mustered up all his strength, made a successful grab for the wine bottle and forced himself rapidly to his feet, swinging the wine bottle with all his might and breaking it across the intruder's face.

Barely conscious, the intruder fell to the ground and Tifa watched fearfully as Rufus; whose usually emotionless, icy blue eyes now seemed to emit a chilling, deadly glow, walked closer to the intruder and picked his gun up off the ground. Standing over the man, he pointed his shotgun, and with a sickeningly malicious sneer on his face and blood dripping from his jaw, he released the safety and pulled the trigger.

* * *

Rufus wiped the blood from his jaw on his sleeve, no longer concerned about dirtying his already hopelessly stained clothing and let out a sigh. Suddenly, the feeling of two arms wrapping around his chest and a female body pressing against his, caused Rufus to widen his eyes in surprise and drop his shotgun. He looked down to find a shaking Tifa sobbing into his chest.

"Thank you."

Rufus, who had almost completely forgotten that Tifa had even been involved in the incident, responded with a falsely confident "Sure" and instinctively put his arms around her, surprised at his decision to do so.

He had endured an occasional hug from his aunts and other female relatives, given as a polite greeting or a farewell, but this was different. This woman, whom Rufus had not even known for two days, was putting her whole heart and soul into this hug and he could feel it. It felt both awkward and pleasant at the same time and the mix of sensations left Rufus confused as to which one he should feel.

After a while, Tifa broke the hug and wiped her eyes. "How's your jaw?"

"It's been better."

"I'll go get some healing items from the first aid kit." Tifa said, starting towards the storage room.

"You can do that later. What's more important right now is getting him out of here and cleaning up his big mess." He said nudging his head towards the dead intruder.

Tifa sniffled and nodded her head.

"What did he want with you?"

"He was trying to get me to open the safe over there." She pointed to the corner that she and the other man had both been standing at when Rufus had come down the stairs. "He also said that-" Tifa stopped halfway through her sentence, finishing it in her head before completing her response. "_- that he was going to turn me in to Shinra for being a member of Avalanche and get lots of money__. _That he was going to take me somewhere he could get a lot of money for me."

"Hmph." Rufus paused and returned his shotgun to its proper place inside his jacket. "Do you think someone would have heard your fight or my gunshot and called the police?"

"No, fights and gunshots are pretty common in this neighborhood and besides, my friends who live here are always creating some kind of a ruckus.

"So what do you suggest we do about him?"

"We could probably sneak his body off into the rubble. At this hour in the morning, no one would probably see us and even if they did, they most likely wouldn't care, unless they personally knew this guy."

Rufus suddenly felt slightly sick to his stomach, wondering how many other dead bodies had been carried off to a similar fate and were lying in the rubble, rotting and stinking.

"Well, let's go."

* * *

Sneaking through the slums with a dead person on the aluminum 'stretcher' Tifa had used to carry him on, brought back memories to Rufus of the days he had trained with the Turks. Although working with the company's Investigative Division of its General Affairs Department was a decision that had been highly disapproved by his father and the rest of the executives, Rufus had done it anyways; partly to spite his father, but mostly to learn things that would benefit him in the long run and would give him an advantage over his Old Man. Of course, since he was the company's heir, he had gone on a relatively small amount of missions, none of which could be considered extremely dangerous; but he had gone on enough of them to make sure that he was exposed to combat and wasn't ignorant, like most of the people in his social class, of what a real battle was.

Even though doing dirty work was not Rufus' cup of tea, through it he had learned how to defend himself and the importance of staying in shape, both of which his father seemed to have absolutely no knowledge of. It had also taught him that sometimes doing a little dirty work, as unpleasant and unbecoming to a person of such high social status as it was, was necessary.

After dumping the body and covering it up with rubble, the two headed back to the bar to clean up. Tifa mopped up the mess of blood and wine on the floor while Rufus disposed of the broken glass and chair, put the rest of the dishes in the sink and used a damp cloth to clean what he could off of his suit from shooting the man at such a close range, before pouring himself a glass of water; which had been his original objective in coming downstairs in the first place.

"I'll finish washing the dishes in the morning." Tifa said with a fatigued yet grateful smile. "Thanks for helping me clean up. Oh! I almost forgot!" Tifa hurried over to the storage room and reappeared with a High Potion, which she tossed to Rufus."

Rufus quickly used the potion and made his way back up the stairs and through the hallway with Tifa.

Tifa stopped at one of the doorways and turned toward her guest. "Well, good night again Rufus. Let's hope we can get a good night sleep now, we both need it."

Rufus chuckled, sure that the both he and Tifa would come nowhere close to a getting a good sleep that night. "Let's hope so. See you in the morning Miss Lockheart."

* * *

At 7:00AM Tifa's alarm went off, just like it had the day before and Rufus got out of bed as fast as his newly awakened, groggy state of consciousness would allow him to and got in the shower.

After washing and making himself as presentable looking as a person could look after spending two nights without a proper shower and change of clothes, Rufus made his way down to the bar, surprised to find a sleepy looking Tifa sitting at the bar with her chin resting on her arms, a glass of water in front of her and still unfinished dishes in the sink behind her.

"Morning." she said in a less cheerful, much more fatigued tone than she had used the previous morning. "Want something to eat?"

"I'll just have a coffee, if you have any. If not, water will do. I'm afraid my jaw still aches enough to have all but killed my appetite this morning."

"Oh. Yeah…" Tifa responded with a look of pity. "Well, I'll get some coffee for you then."

"Thanks." Rufus replied, sitting down at the bar. "How long have you been up?"

"I don't think I ever really went to sleep the whole night… but I came down here to finish getting the bar ready at around 6:30."

"So much for a good night's sleep huh?"

Tifa let out a sigh. "Yeah."

After Rufus' coffee was ready, Tifa set it in front of him and went over to the sink to finish washing up the last few dishes while Rufus began to drink his coffee in silence. As she washed, Tifa couldn't help but glance back now and then at Rufus, who was staring at his coffee mug as if he was in deep thought and occasionally taking a sip from it. If it wasn't for him, the bar would have gotten robbed, Marlene would be all alone and she herself would be dead or worse: in the hands of the Shinra Company. Rufus had done so much for her and she would never have the chance to repay him. Besides all that, she had grown somewhat attached to him. As she had realized the previous night, her attraction to him was second only to her love for Cloud. She was going to miss the way he talked, his mannerisms, the charming air of sophistication that always seemed to float around him and everything else about him that made him so different and exciting.

"_Why is it that every time I realize I have feelings for someone, they end up leaving the next morning?"_

_

* * *

_

Rufus looked up from his empty coffee mug to glance at the clock. 7:55AM. If Corneo arrived on time like he was supposed to, Rufus only had five minutes left until his unexpected little adventure would come to a happy end. Realizing that he should probably say his goodbyes, Rufus got up and walked over to Tifa, who was cleaning one of her tables.

"I just wanted to say goodbye and thank you for letting me stay here these past two nights."

"It was no problem. After all, if I hadn't taken you off of the street, I would have had no one to save me last night. I'm really thankful for that. And I'm really thankful I got to meet you, Rufus."

Tifa turned around and moved closer to him, nervously looking up towards Rufus' face and allowing herself to gaze into his ice cold blue eyes one more time.

Rufus looked back down at her with a smirk. _"For reasons you're not aware of,_ I'm glad I got to meet you as well."

Rufus studied her face. It was easy to see that she was sad that he was leaving, although she seemed to be holding back her sadness with all her might. Her deep ruby eyes glistened as she gazed up at him with a few strands of her hair falling playfully in her face, her lips in a slight pout.

Like lightning, an urge unexpectedly shot through Rufus to cover her lips with his own.

A little shaken, Rufus suddenly realized how close they were standing and took a small step back, giving her a smile as he offered Tifa his hand for a handshake.

As Tifa shook his hand a car horn beeped loudly, with two identical beeps immediately following it.

"That them?"

"I believe it is. Thank you again, and goodbye, Tifa."

"Goodbye, Rufus."

As he walked out of the bar towards the car, Rufus glanced back to find Tifa watching him from window. Still slightly shaken by his unexplainable urge to kiss her, Rufus sat down in the backseat of the car behind the driver, after one of Corneo's cronies had opened the door for him, and looked out the window.

"_What the hell is wrong with me? …All that solitary confinement must have messed me up more than I thought."_

_

* * *

_

Tifa found that Rufus' departure had cast a shadowy gloom over the rest of the day that nothing seemed to be able to lift. After making it through a morning and an afternoon that seemed to drag on forever, it was finally time to take a break for dinner.

Carrying the dishes to the table as Marlene played on the floor and supper cooked on the stove, Tifa was suddenly distracted by an announcement on the TV.

"Two days after his helicopter was shot down, supposedly by terrorists, the Vice President of the Shinra Company has finally been found and has arrived safely here in Midgar."

The news station cut to a video, shot earlier that day, showing a black car drive up to Shinra's Headquarters and stop in front of the door, where the President and his top executives were waiting. A man stepped out of the car and opened the back driver side door to reveal a familiar, blonde young man in a stained, white suit, who stepped out of the car, walked over to the President and shook his hand.

Tifa gasped and froze as everything in the world, with the exception of the TV, came to a crashing halt; not even noticing the loud crash as the dishes she was carrying shattered to pieces on the floor.

* * *

**Notes:** _Yes I know it took me a little longer than a few weeks to get this posted. This chapter was basically finished when I uploaded Chapter 4, but then I decided to rewrite a few parts and add a new one._

_If anyone is confused as to why there isn't any mention of the plot I wrote in my story's summary, fear not. All that starts next chapter. :) These first five chapters are all kind of like a very long prequel to the main story. I did that because I wanted Rufus and Tifa to have already met and have a little bit of physical attraction towards each other before the main plotline came into play._

_Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it!_

_Reviews please! The feedback is greatly appreciated. :D_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer: **_Square Enix does not own this storyline (they own everything else though).

_**Notes:**_  
'_text in italics'_ represents thoughts  
'regular text' is speech/narration

**If Only Love Was Simple**

**RufusxTifa**

**Chapter 6:**

The other members of Avalanche had come home the next day tired, wet, unsuccessful, broke and miserable. As Barret swore and carried on in the background, Jessie had explained to Tifa that although the Surface-to-Air missile launcher had hit its target, some of the tweaking she had done to override the "friendly-target" security caused a malfunction and the missile failed to detonate. When they had reached the site of the crash, they discovered that the pilot had been killed, but the executive was nowhere to be found. After spending the rest of the day searching the nearby area for any signs of him, they had returned to their camp and found that they were missing a chocobo and 200 Gil, among other things. What little money they had left, they had been forced to give to the chocobo renter for "losing" the other chocobo and the relentless rain had soaked them to the bone.

Tifa couldn't have felt more guilty. She hadn't just crossed paths with the very same executive they were trying to capture, she had let him stay in Avalanche's headquarters, nursed him back to health, fed him, carried on casual conversation with him and had even felt _attracted_ to him. She hadn't known who he was at the time so she couldn't blame herself entirely, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized she should have suspected him. He had even told her he was from Junon, worked for his "family's business" and had failed to specify what _kind_ of transportation accident he had been in before he got hit by the truck.

It had been a close call but, as far as she knew, the Vice President had no idea that he had been staying in Avalanche's headquarters and had even saved her from being taken to his company as a hostage. So, since everything had worked out alright in the end, Tifa had decided to keep the whole incident a secret from the rest of the group.

Although she was still unable to deny that the Vice President was handsome, the revelation of his real identity had quickly remedied any feelings she had begun to feel for him. Members of the upper class could be very polite when they wanted to be and Tifa now realized that every courteous thing he had said or done had most likely been out of an attempt to stay on her good side and survive long enough to get back to the Company, and had had little or no sincerity to it.

After a few weeks had passed, Tifa and the rest of Avalanche had gotten over the failure of their mission and had moved on to other things. It turned out that the overpriced battery Tifa had bought for Jessie at the Wall Market Weapon's Shop not only worked, much to Tifa's relief, but was going to play a small role in Avalanche's next plan, serving as a backup power source for the computer. With the slums being the slums, power outages were common and Avalanche couldn't a risk power outage interfering with the success of their mission.

The original plan had been to use the information obtained from the executive captured during their last mission to make infiltration easier, but since that had not gone as planned Avalanche was going have to find a way to break in the hard way, by obtaining the information themselves. Despite the small delays and changes in the plan however, the objective remained the same: assassinate the President.

According to Barret, Avalanche had nearly been successful in doing so before. An assassination attempt directed straight at Shinra's Midgar HQ would not be expected and would most likely not even be considered possible, by the Shinra. In addition, it would take Avalanche quite a while to get fully prepared for their new mission, so Shinra would have time to cool off from the helicopter attack and let their guard down.

Months passed and slowly Avalanche's plan began to take form. Jessie worked incessantly on the technical side of the mission while Barret, Biggs and Wedge scouted for all the secret information they could get their hands on. Little by little the information piled up and soon it was early December and the members of Avalanche switched from acquiring information, to planning out the details of their mission.

* * *

"Awright foos! Let's start this meetin'."Barret said, setting Marlene on one of the boxes that were piled up along the wall. The other members of Avalanche got settled in their usual places around the room.

Barret took a seat on a crate next to Marlene. "You're up Jess."

Jessie stepped up to the center of the room. "Alright. As you all know our goal here is to assassinate the President. But since Shinra knows about our existence, they'd make sure that any sort of public function that would serve as a usual target for assassination is adequately supplied with security and too risky for a small group like ours to attack. So we're going to try something different. We've discovered that Floor 58 in Shinra's HQ is actually an entire floor of apartment suites for important guests to the company. However, the President and his executives also have suites there and President Shinra uses his suite as a 'home away from home' on weekdays and goes back to whatever ridiculously expensive mansion he lives in on the Plate, on weekends. Unfortunately, we couldn't find out who stays in what suite, so we will have to obtain that information once we're inside the building. That's where the high security floors come into play and things get tricky. Somehow, most likely by stealing IDs from the right people, our assassin will have to make their way to Floor 65, which is the Urban Development Floor. Once there they will hack into the computer system, with my help via these PHSes-" She said holding them up to show the group. "-that I've modified by changing the transceiver crystals so Shinra will be unable to identify or trace our calls. Then once we find out which room number is the President's room, our assassin will it write down on something: their arm, a piece of paper, whatever they can; and the-"

"Jess," Barret interrupted. "Why we gotta go all the way up to Urban Development for? Can't we just find any computer?"

"Unfortunately, no. Since Floor 65 specializes in Urban Development, the computers there have special access to records about the building and its rooms that we can't get to using a regular company PC. After we figure out which room to go to, our assassin will head back to Floor 58 and sneak into the ventilation system. Then the rest of us here will use the ventilation blueprint we have on our computer of that area, to guide them into the President's suite."

"What if we get there and he isn't home?" Wedge asked, looking up from the plate of food he had brought down with him.

"You'll just have to wait 'till he comes back. We'll plan this for a day when he is _supposed_ to be there so there isn't much of a chance you'll be waiting more than a few hours. Then our assassin will make sure he's alone and kill him as quietly as possible in whatever way they choose. After that they will sneak back out of the building and mission accomplished!"

All of Avalanche was silent.

Biggs sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "That's a lot easier said than done."

"It's a great plan, Jess. It's just a little intimidating is all." Wedge added.

"I know it's a really difficult sounding mission, but it's still possible and I know that we can pull it off. Shinra's not as invincible as they portray themselves to be and it's high time the world sees that."

"Damn straight!" Barret agreed and after a flood of complimentary statements from the other members of Avalanche, things quieted back down Jessie went on.

"I'd go myself if I could, but I have to stay here to run the technical stuff. Which brings us to our next topic: who is going to be our assassin? …Preferably, it should be one of our smaller members, as part of the mission requires traveling through the ventilation system and we don't want to risk our assassin not being able to fit through or getting stuck in the vents. No offense guys," She said turning towards Barret and Wedge. "But I think you're just too big for this one."

Wedge smiled and looked down at his plate in secret thankfulness for his size and Barret nodded at Jessie in understanding.

"Okay, so that leaves Biggs and Teef."

Although she was always considered a member of the group, Tifa spent most of her time serving customers in the bar and didn't even attend all of Avalanche's meetings. This was the first time she had ever been singled out as possible candidate for a crucial mission and it took her by surprise.

After a few moments of silent tension, Tifa made a split-second decision that caused looks of surprise to be seen around the room from the rest of the group.

"I'll do it."

"…You sure, Tifa?" Biggs asked.

Tifa paused a second and nodded affirmatively before addressing the group. "My skills in martial arts will make any fighting I might have to do in close quarters a lot easier. Biggs still has family and if something should go wrong, I don't have any real family left to miss me. Besides, it will be a lot easier to replace a bartender than it is a full time Avalanche member like Biggs."

"I dunno," Wedge replied. "you're the best cook I know. You'd be pretty hard to replace if you ask me. If I had to start eating something less than your cooking every day, I might consider going on a diet."

After a round of laughter from the group Tifa continued. "Thanks, Wedge." She said with an appreciative smile. "But you have all been continuously risking your lives for our cause while I've just been serving drinks and cooking food in the safety of our bar. It's time I contributed to our fight for the planet too."

"Alrighty, Teef. If you want it, the mission is yours." Jessie said. "Well, now that that's decided I'll show you the weapons and tools we have for you to use. Since we don't have a set method for assassinating the President, we're going to give you as many weapons to carry with you as reasonably possible, so you'll be prepared for anything."

Jessie led Tifa over to a table with a large number of small tools and weapons including a flashlight, a multifunction pocket knife, lock picks, a tiny wireless PHS headset, smoke bombs and vials of a poisonous powder, among other things.

"Lucky for us," Jessie continued. "I met a guy on the train the other day who had just retired from being a janitor at Shinra for 40 years and he agreed to let us have his uniform, which I'm going to pick up tomorrow. It won't be a perfect fit for you, especially 'cause it's a guy's uniform but it will do well enough to let you walk around the building without suspicion. The great part about getting our hands on a janitor's uniform is that not only is it the perfect disguise, it also has tons of pockets. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, weapons."

After Jessie had explained each weapon and tool Tifa was unfamiliar with, the meeting was over. The group decided that in four days they would put their plan into action. This would give Jessie some time to obtain the janitor's uniform and take it over to the old lady next door to add a few beneficial alterations; and make any last minute preparations to prevent any technical malfunctions.

For Tifa, the next three days went by in a flash. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and life went on as usual until the night before her mission, when what she was about to attempt finally sunk in.

"_What was I thinking? I've only ever gone on a few easy missions and now I'm going to try to assassinate the President of Shinra in his own building? I must have been out of my mind…"_ She thought, trying to remember what had possessed her to volunteer. She sincerely believed in the reasons she had given the other member for wanting the mission, but she had to admit that the urge to volunteer as the group's assassin had greatly been because of her own personal reasons as well. Accepting the mission had made her feel a better about keeping her encounter with the Vice President a secret from everyone and it was also the perfect opportunity to finally get her personal revenge on Shinra; but now that she thought about it, those things didn't seem like the right reasons for risking her life by participating in a mission she wasn't sure she was prepared for.

When she finally did fall asleep, it seemed only like a couple of minutes before her alarm clock jarred her awake and Tifa had to force herself to get out of bed and prepare for the day. Tifa moved through her shower and breakfast feeling almost like a prisoner on the day of their execution. This feeling continued after breakfast, lunch and all through the pre-mission meeting, as Jessie ran through the plan one more time and gave Tifa her janitor's uniform and equipment. Finally, it was time for Tifa to head out and the rest of Avalanche and Marlene lined up in the bar to say their goodbyes and wish her good luck.

"I always feel more confident on a mission if I have a snack with me." Wedge said, handing her a package of peanut-butter cracker sandwiches. "Who knows, maybe you'll have to wait a while for the President to show up and you'll be glad to have something to eat."

"Thanks, Wedge." Tifa said, putting the cracker sandwiches in one of her pockets.

"Don't worry, Tifa. You'll do great." Biggs said with a smile. "I'll take care of the bar until you get back."

"Thank you Biggs, I appreciate it. If you can, try not to let Barret fill the place with any more holes." She added with a whisper.

"Ehh," Biggs said with a nervous smile. "No promises Teef, but I'll give it a shot."

"Best of luck Tifa, you'll be just fine." Jessie added. "Oh, and try and use your PHS only in emergencies, other than when you have to hack the computer system and are traveling through the vents. I'm not sure how long it will take for the PHS companies to find out there are PHSes operating on a different frequency." She said with a guilty smile.

Tifa nodded "I will."

"Don't you go gettin' yo'self killed Teef, ya hear?"

Tifa giggled. "I got it Barret."

"Awright, you go teach those Shinra foo's a lesson!" Barret replied with a friendly jab to Tifa's shoulder.

"Bye Tifa, be careful!" Marlene added.

Tifa picked up the two-year-old and gave her a hug. "I will Marlene. Can you do something for me while I'm gone?"

The toddler nodded.

"Keep an eye on these trouble makers for me will you?"

"You got it!" The toddler said happily, excited to have a special task to do for Tifa while she was away.

Tifa set Barret's adopted daughter back down and walked toward the door. "Bye, everyone! See you soon."

After a wave of goodbyes and "good lucks" from the others, she opened the door and headed out.

* * *

Tifa took a seat next to the door of the train and peered out the window, watching the piles of junk and scrap metal fly by her. Normally such a sight was disheartening but this time she was glad to see it. The destitute scenery and the hopeless-looking citizens inhabiting it gave her a sense of pride in being a part of Avalanche and confidence that she and her friends were doing the right thing by risking their lives to destroy the Shinra Company in order to give the poverty-stricken people in the slums of Midgar, and other oppressed people around the world, hope for a better life.

As the train headed up the spiral track at the city's core Tifa leaned her head back on the window and closed her eyes, mentally preparing herself for her mission. When she got to the Shinra building, it would be game time and there would be no room for worry or self-doubt. If this mission was successful, Shinra would be weakened and Avalanche would be one step closer to achieving its goal. If it failed, she was as good as dead, and her friends' lives would be in danger as well, depending on how well she could stand up to "interrogation".

"Now arriving at Sector 0, Shinra Building." A polite, almost mechanical voice announced over the intercom as the train approached the station.

As casually as possible, Tifa exited the train after it came to a stop and looked up at the Shinra building. She had never been so close to it before and was taken back at just how intimidating it actually was. Its myriad of windows gave off a soft yellow against the darkening sky and mixed with the green glow of mako that was all around.

Then, realizing just how odd she must look at the moment, Tifa refocused herself on the mission, took a deep breath and began to walk towards the entrance.

Once inside, Tifa felt as though she had stepped onto a different planet. A large, exquisite glass sign of the Shinra logo welcomed her to the building, the latest motor mobiles were on display, office plants and comfortable-looking seating were here and there and the polished marble floors gave a slight glimmer to everything above them. But for all its aura of wealth and power, the building contained no warmth whatsoever. The only sounds were the slight murmurs of polite voices and the occasional clack of heels and dress shoes on the marble floor, which made the building feel empty and cold, and chilled Tifa to the bone.

After some trying-not-to-look-out-of-place walking around and figuring out where to go, Tifa finally found the elevator on the 3rd Floor. Once inside, Tifa pushed '59' on the control panel and felt the elevator start to rise.

4

5

6

7

The elevator stopped and a skinny man with thick-rimmed, rectangular glasses, carrying a suitcase stepped in. Although the man had pretended not to notice her, Tifa was unable to stop her heart from pounding a million miles a minute. She knew it was ridiculous that he should suspect her of anything, but her own knowledge that she was in the very heart of the Shinra building as a false employee wasn't doing any to help her nerves.

10

11

12

Two more people, a man and a woman, stepped inside the elevator.

"So as I was saying, Mark. She came up to me today and completely-"

Tifa did her best to tune out the conversation going on next to her and focused on the digital numbers above the door."

13

14

"_Could this thing go any slower_?"

Contrary to the tension and anxiety Tifa was feeling inside, calming, sophisticated music played in the background as the elevator stopped every few floors and people came and went. When the elevator finally reached Floor 59, Tifa quickly stepped out into the room and breathed a sigh of relief. Although she knew that had been the easy part, she was glad to be out of that elevator and prepared herself for action.

"_How am I supposed to get a hold of somebody's keycard?"_ she thought, looking at the room, which was occupied only by a few couches, coffee tables, and small plants. Security guards were stationed at the elevator entrances, leaving virtually nowhere to attack someone out of sight.

"Hey! What're you doing?" A voice said from behind her.

Startled, Tifa whipped around in the direction of the voice. "Nothing. I was just-"

"Good! Then you can take this keycard and go up to the café and get me some tea. Make sure you get it with honey and sugar and lard!" the man said somewhat frantically, handing her his keycard.

"O-okay." Tifa managed to stutter out, trying not to look too confused or stare too curiously at the short, plump, balding older man in a brown suit.

"I'll be in a meeting on Floor 34, in room 3405." He said hurriedly. "Remember that, now. 3-4-0-5."

Tifa nodded.

"Well, get going! And hurry up about it!" The man said before quickly making his way towards an elevator.

Tifa looked down at the keycard. Next to a deranged looking employee picture was a description of the man she had encountered.

ID#: 006  
Name: Palmer  
Position: Director of Space Exploration Dept.

Tifa couldn't believe her luck. _"This will give me access to the whole Shinra building!"_

She quickly got inside the elevator, swiped Palmer's card, and punched her desired floor number on the keypad. After a much faster, solitary elevator ride, Tifa reached Floor 65 and began to look around for a computer. First, she tried the main room in the center of the floor. There wasn't a computer inside, but there was a large model of the city of Midgar. Tifa resisted the temptation to touch the model, for fear of setting off some sort of alarm, and continued her search.

After peeping inside several more of the rooms, she found a computer in a small office, amidst the organized clutter of paperwork, architecture blue-prints, a few scrap pieces of metal and drawings of what appeared to be stuffed animals.

"_This place is getting weirder by the minute._" Tifa thought before putting on her wireless PHS headpiece and dialing Jessie's number, placing the PHS back into her pocket.

"Tifa! How's it going!" Jessie answered.

"I just made it to a computer on Floor 65."

"Wow, that was fast, Teef! Are you sure you haven't done anything like this before?"

Tifa chuckled. "I've been getting really lucky. So, what do I do next?"

For the next half hour, Jessie guided Tifa through hacking the computer system until finally, Tifa found herself looking at a blueprint of the 58th floor and the employee codes for which room belonged to who.

After finding which code number represented the President, Tifa grabbed a pen to write down the corresponding room number on a nearby piece of paper.

"What are you doing in my office?"

Tifa froze like a deer caught in headlights and quickly switched off the PHS in her pocket.

"I-I, w-was-" She slowly turned to face the entrance of the room. The voice belonged to an average sized man with shoulder length dark brown hair and well groomed facial hair."-just checking the electricity flow in here. Someone reported a shortage in this room." Tifa finished confidently, although unable to mask all of the fear on her face.

"Really?" He asked, looking around at the lighting. Then, seeing the look on Tifa's face, he let out a chuckle. "It's alright, I believe you. You must be new."

Tifa nodded slowly.

"You don't have to be nervous." He said with another small chuckle. "I won't bite you. I can't say the same for the other executives though." He said with a grin, making sure his voice was quiet on his last sentence.

Tifa let out a giggle, feeling a little less tense.

"I'm Reeve Tuesti by the way, head of Urban Development. Nice to meet you…"

"Marlene." Tifa said, blurting out the first female name that came to her mind and shaking Reeve's extended hand.

"Nice to meet you, Marlene. Well, I'll let you get back to your work." He said before exiting the room.

Panic hit Tifa as she realized that Reeve could have just been playing nice to keep her calm and in the same place, while he went off to fetch security. No one in Shinra was actually _that_ nice. Especially an executive.

Tifa hurriedly jotted down the room number belonging to the President, shut down the computer and rushed out of the room. As calmly and quickly as possible she made her way down to Floor 58, leaving Palmer's ID card in-between some couch cushions on Floor 59, so Shinra wouldn't find it on her if she was caught and also so she could still go back to get it if she needed it.

Tifa took a deep breath, lifted the tapered casing off of one of the vents and crawled inside, being sure to put the casing back into place, before re-calling Jessie.

"Tifa! Is everything alright? We lost contact with you."

"I had to shut off the phone because an executive came in the room. It's alright though, as far as I know I haven't been found out. I have the room number and I'm in the vents now."

"Great! So, what's the number?"

"Hold on," Tifa took out the flashlight and turned it on to view the piece of paper with the number written on it. "the number is 580- _Oh no, is that a 4 or a 9?"_ She had written the last number so quickly she couldn't make out the last digit and she had been so worried about that executive calling security that she hadn't bothered to commit the President's room number to memory.

"_I'll just pick one, and if it's the wrong room, I'll phone Jessie and tell her to __guide __me to the other one." _She quickly decided.

"5809…Jessie, I've run into a problem I wasn't expecting. When I entered the ventilation system I went in feet first and now I'm facing the wrong direction!"

Jessie laughed. "That is quite a problem, isn't it? Which vent did you crawl into?"

"Uh, the one closest to the elevator on the right hand side when entering the room."

"Hmm," Jessie paused to look at the map on her computer. "Okay, Tifa. Just crawl backwards until you run into an intersection in the vents. Crawling backwards, make a turn to your right, then crawl forward making a turn to your left and you'll be headed and facing in the right direction."

After Tifa had straightened herself out, Jessie continued giving instructions. A turn to the right here, a turn to the left there, climb up, be ready for a drop, until finally, Tifa was behind the vent cover to room 5809.

"Alright. Thanks, Jessie, I'm there. I'll call you if I need you."

"Good luck, Teef!"

After hearing several faint shouts of encouragement from the other Avalanche members in the background, Tifa hung up the PHS and peered out from behind the vent.

Straight in front of her was a wall that ended in the middle of the room, separating the living room area from what Tifa guessed was probably the kitchen. A bright light shown from the room behind the wall and the living room area was lit by a few lamps and the glow from the mako outside. Tifa was about to lift off the casing on the vent when she heard two male voices. Unfortunately, the voices were coming from behind the wall, so she couldn't see the people or clearly understand the entire conversation.

"…finances…"

"your support…later time"

"…President, goodnight."

"_So this is the President's room. Good."_ Tifa thought, as she watched a man, who was apparently a guest, leave the room. Relieved she wasn't going to have to trek through the ventilation again to a different room, Tifa quietly lifted off the vent cover. Suddenly, Tifa heard footsteps coming towards the living room and froze, holding the vent cover to make it look like it was in place. The footsteps stopped at the edge of the wall and Tifa saw a hand place a glass of wine on an end table between the edge of the wall and a couch, before the footsteps headed back into the kitchen.

"_Perfect! I can use that poison __and not have to fight or make any noise at all."_ Tifa thought, silently setting the vent cover down on floor. Quickly and stealthily, Tifa crawled to the table, took out her vial of poison and began to pour the powder into the glass.

Suddenly, a low growl began to emit from the kitchen area and the next thing Tifa knew, a large black figure bounded over the end table, knocking over both Tifa and the glass of wine, and spilling the rest of the powder.

Tifa looked up from the floor and found her attacker to be an exceptionally large and angry Guard Hound. The hound's hot breath on her face and its sharp, pointed fangs, which were only centimeters away from turning her face into a piece of abstract art, made Tifa squint her eyes shut, unable to do anything but wait in fear as the faint sound of footsteps amidst the hound's barking began to come quickly, yet calmly in her direction.

"And what do we have here?" she head a strangely familiar voice say.

Tifa opened one eye and saw, not the President, but the _Vice_ President standing a few feet away from her with a hint of confusion on his otherwise emotionless facial expression. Quickly, Tifa directed her gaze away from him, embarrassed and unsure of what to say or if she should say anything at all.

Rufus quickly scanned the room and the mess, observing that the intruder had entered through the ventilation and had attempted to put some sort of powder in his drink. About to enquire as to the identity of this unusual, ventilation dwelling "custodian", he opened his mouth to speak but promptly shut it again when it hit him that the woman in front of him seemed familiar.

"_Where have I seen her before?" _Rufus paused and tried to think. He didn't come to Midgar very often so there couldn't be many places he would have seen her; and wherever it had been, he was almost absolutely certain that she hadn't been wearing a custodian's uniform. "_It wasn't here at work… At the symphony perhaps? No. __Someone Reno introduced me to that time he dragged me to that shoddy bar? No that wasn't-… The bar! _

Now he remembered, she was a bar tender; but not just any bar tender. She was the bar tender for the bar housing Avalanche's headquarters in the slums of Sector Seven.

Rufus gave his Guard Hound the command to step back and took a better look at his unexpected guest.

"_Now what was her name? Braveheart…Freeheart…Stoutheart…Lionheart, ...Lockheart!" _

A sinister grin spread over his face as he picked up the almost empty container of poison powder and examined it before setting it down on the end table.

"Miss Lockheart-"

Tifa whipped her head in his direction with a mixture of shock and fear.

"_He remembers me? Great. I suppose he remembers exactly where I live too."_

"-I believe I was a very pleasant house guest during my little stay in your bar, even going so far as to save you from being robbed and kidnapped. I see absolutely no reason for you to hold any resentment toward me. If I remember correctly, you even seemed rather sad to see me go."

"That was before I found out who you really were."

"And the knowledge of my real identity angered you so terribly that you decided to go through the trouble of stealing a janitor's uniform and sneaking into my suite to kill me over it?"

Tifa sighed and got herself into a sitting position on the ground. It didn't really matter whether she had been trying to assassinate the President or the Vice President; the punishment was still going to be the same.

"I, I wasn't trying to kill _you_."

"Oh." Rufus nodded, with a look of mock understanding. "You were just expecting someone _else_ to suddenly appear and start drinking out of my wine glass."

Tifa glared angrily at the Vice President.

"I got the wrong room! I was looking for the President's room not yours." She snapped. Remembering her current situation, Tifa quickly swallowed her anger. "His room's 5804, isn't it?" She asked in defeated voice.

"Yes, I believe it is…"

Tifa looked curiously up at Rufus who had taken a seat on the couch by the end table and was now absentmindedly petting his Guard Hound. His tone had suddenly become less demanding and interrogative, and more soft and thoughtful.

"_She must be very skilled at what she does to have made it all the way up here and only fail because she somehow mixed up the room numbers. If Dark Nation hadn't been here and woken up from her nap, I would be dead by now. What an advantage it would be to have that sort of skill on my side…"_

Although he had originally planned to wait a little longer before trying to take the Presidency again, opportunities like this one didn't come around every day and this one was just too convenient and full of potential to pass up.

"Tell you what I'll do, Miss Lockheart." Rufus said, picking up his wine glass and placing it back on the end table, making himself a mental reminder to send for someone to clean up the spill. "Since you and I have been on, pleasant terms, with one another in the past, I am willing to overlook this little offense you've made against my Company and not hand you over to the authorities."

Tifa's eyes widened in surprise.

"In exchange," he continued with a dangerous smirk. "I want you to complete your mission to assassinate the President, under my orders."

Tifa couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"And if I should refuse?" she responded, wondering if he was trying to lead her into some sort of trap.

"You won't." he said with an arrogant air of confidence.

"What makes you so sure of that?" she asked, starting to get annoyed with the Vice President's attitude.

Rufus let out a chuckle and got up off of the couch. "Well I'm no expert on these things but to my understanding, pinball machines don't normally double as elevators."

Tifa swallowed hard and watched with a mixture of fear and hatred as a triumphant grin spread across the Vice President's face.

"You sneaky little bastard!" Tifa snapped, anger suddenly overtaking her fear. "You had no right to go snooping around in my house."

"I did nothing of the sort. I was playing an innocent game of pinball and, quite accidentally, pulled the wrong lever to release the ball after being forced by iniquitously designed hardware to start a new game."

She was stuck. If she wanted even the slightest hope of keeping her friends and herself alive, she would have to agree to work with him; but something didn't make sense.

"Why haven't you attacked us since you know where we're located?"

Rufus gave her a sly half-smile. "Let's just say that the location of Avalanche isn't the first important piece of information I've kept from the rest of the Company. So, do we have a deal?" He asked, extending his hand towards her.

Tifa sighed, and accepted his handshake, which afterwards, Rufus used to pull her to her feet.

Rufus forced himself not to smirk, knowing how defensively his new accomplice was going to react the next thing he said.

"Now I'm going to need you to remove everything you are wearing."

Tifa's eyes widened for a moment in shock, but quickly narrowed. "I'm not going to do anything like that for you, you pervert!"

Rufus rolled his eyes. "Miss Lockheart, if I was trying to get some sort of sexual gratification from you I assure you that I would not be wasting my time with politeness. It just so happens that you are an armed assassin and I'm not going to let you walk around in the same room with me, completely armed and unsearched."

"How about I just take off my uniform?"

"No, you are going to take off everything. This isn't going to be a full blown strip search; all you have to do is take off all your clothes and let me search them and confiscate your weapons. You aren't going to be the first naked woman I've ever seen Miss Lockheart, so unless you have some sort of deformity under that janitor's uniform of yours, which I doubt; I'm not going to be seeing anything I haven't seen before. So hurry up."Rufus motioned to her with one hand to start undressing and took his PHS out of his pocket with the other, to check the time.

"You certainly aren't much of a gentleman, are you?"

Rufus snorted and put his PHS back in his pocket with a sneer. "If you're wondering where all the wealthy fairytale gentleman have gone, I'll tell you: they've all been killed off by female assassins like you, who prey on their chivalric weaknesses.

When Tifa made no motion of complying with him, Rufus let out an exasperated sigh.

"Look Lockheart, I'm not going to _make_ you do this. But if you're not going to cooperate with me then I will call off our agreement and take you down to interrogation; and you _will_ cooperate with them. I think you'll find that they will be a bit more," he paused as if searching for the right word. "playful, than I am going to be. After all, it's not every day that they get their hands on a terrorist of the attractive, female variety."

After shooting Rufus a glare that made it very clear he would be dying the most slow, painful death imaginable if looks could kill, Tifa began to slip her feet out of her boots.

Piece by piece she took off her clothing and accessories, and tossed them in his direction until she was down to nothing but her undergarments. Tifa stopped and let out a shiver as the air-conditioning, which seemed to be competing for lowest temperature against the Vice President's icy stare, came full force onto her bare skin.

"Go on, keep going." Rufus said, noticing she had stopped removing her apparel and seemed to be stalling.

Tifa took a deep breath and slowly began to slip off her bra, feeling her face heat up in embarrassment. Quickly, she pulled it over her head and tossed it towards Rufus, her bottoms and socks quickly following.

"_Is there even one good reason why I shouldn't attack him by surprise and beat him to death right now?" _Tifa thought, but a glance to her left reminded her that there was. The Vice President's oversized guard pet was making its way over to her, sniffing her as though it had decided to help its master with the inspection.

"_Smoke bombs, lock-picks, a PHS…"_Rufus paused his search upon hearing a strange crinkling sound come from one of the pockets. Reaching inside, he pulled out a package of peanut butter cracker-sandwiches. Rufus raised an eyebrow at his discovery and tossed the package at Tifa.

"Getting hungry?"

Tifa reluctantly caught the package and rolled her eyes, before tossing it to the floor. After he had finished his search, Rufus dropped the janitor's uniform and, rather hesitantly, grabbed Tifa's undergarments and quickly inspected them before checking the time again on his PHS and pausing for a second in thought.

"I will be back in a moment." Rufus quickly disappeared into another room before giving Tifa a chance to inquire about getting redressed, leaving her to stand and face the air conditioning in her birthday suit.

Rufus closed the bedroom door behind him and took a sigh of relief, running his hand through his hair. He had forgotten the strange effect this woman had had on him when he said goodbye to her at the bar, and watching her completely undress right in front of him had been more than a harsh reminder.

However, the weakening state of his composure hadn't been the reason he'd left the room. Rufus walked over to the suite's walk-in closet, turned on the light and went inside. A slight pout crept over the Vice President's face as he viewed the many white suits, black turtle necks, dress shoes, dress shirts and work-out apparel. In fifteen minutes, he was going to be heading back to Junon for business reasons and she was going to have to go with him. There was no way she could stay in that janitor's uniform and be seen with him without suspicion.

Rufus quickly grabbed a black, long-sleeve dress shirt and, deciding that his dress pants would look much too ridiculous on her, he grabbed a pair of sweat pants and returned to the living room.

"These are for you." He said, tossing the clothes to her. "You can get dressed now."

Tifa set the clothes down and quickly put her undergarments back on. "Why do I have to change my clothes? You've had your 'complete search' of my uniform."

"Because we are leaving for Junon in approximately fifteen minutes and it is more probable and much less suspicious for a woman to accompany me wearing my clothes, than it is for her to be wearing a custodian's uniform."

"Junon?" She exclaimed, while buttoning the buttons of his dress shirt. "I thought you said I was going to finish my mission?"

"You are, Miss Lockheart, but not tonight. Unfortunately, I have to go to a business meeting."

"A business meeting this late at night?" Tifa said, arching an eyebrow skeptically. High ranking business executives never worked longer than they had to.

"It's actually some sort of dinner party the President is requiring me to attend, with the intention of convincing a certain potential customer to sign a deal with our company tomorrow. Not all of a business executive's work takes place at the office, you know."

"So, what am I going to do while you're off partying?"

Rufus shot her a glare of annoyance."You will be staying out of trouble at my apartment, with Dark Nation to keep an eye on you until I get back. I won't be gone all that long; I expect to be back after about an hour."

"And then we'll head back to Midgar?"

"No. We will discuss our plans further tomorrow."

An annoyed sigh left Tifa's lips as the Rufus left the room with her uniform and assassin gear. Not only did she now have to work with the company's Vice President, but now she was going to have to stay in his house with him as well.

Tifa looked down at herself. His shirt was too tight for her chest and was much too long. Its sleeves covered her hands and its general length extended slightly above mid thigh. The pants were a comfortable black mesh with white fabric lining and were also much too long for her.

Tifa sat down on the couch and stared at the spilled wine on the carpet. "_I suppose things could be worse…I could be getting tortured or sent off to be executed right now. At least with him I have a chance of making it out of here alive." _

Tifa glanced over towards Rufus, who was briskly, but calmly making his way around the suite, gathering his things and packing them, along with hers, into his suitcase. _"Not like it's much of a chance though. He's not even faithful to his own company."_

When Rufus had finished packing, he brought his suitcase and briefcase to the living room and made a call to the building's maintenance department, putting in a request to have someone clean up the wine spill on the carpet, before turning towards Tifa.

"Ready to head out?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Tifa replied unenthusiastically.

Rufus chuckled. "Oh, before we leave-" he said reopening his suitcase and handing Tifa her PHS. "-call your fellow terrorists and tell them something along the lines of 'I've been captured but I've managed to sneak by with my PHS, don't worry too much'…that sort of thing. The last thing we need is for them to lead some sort of rescue attack and get captured and interrogated. If the rest of the Company finds out that Avalanche is looking for you and they find you with me, that will not be good for either of us; so no secret 'come and rescue me' signals that I won't be able to pick up on. They will only hurt you in the long run. Keep your voice quiet and confident, so it sounds convincing."

Tifa sighed and dialed the number for the other PHS.

"Hey foo'!" Barret answered. "You on yo' way home now?"

Tifa made sure her voice was just above a whisper. "No Barret." She let out a sigh. "I've been caught. I managed to sneak by with my PHS though. They aren't certain what my motives were because we got the wrong room number and I ended up just scaring one of their guests instead."

The other line was silent.

"Listen, I need you guys to promise me that you aren't going to go on some sort of rescue mission. We don't need all of Avalanche getting caught and killed over this. Security is pretty low because they haven't found out what I was really up to, so I'm making a plan to escape.

"…How long you think it's gonna be before you can get out of there?"

"I'm not sure yet Barret, I-"

Rufus gave her a signal to wrap it up.

"-someone's coming! Say hi to everyone for me and don't worry too much, okay? I'll call you again as soon as I can." Tifa quickly hung up the PHS.

"Not bad." Rufus said with an acknowledging smirk, holding out his hand for her to return the PHS. She did so and after Rufus had placed the PHS safely back in his suitcase, they began to make their way toward the Helipad.

**Notes:**

_Is anyone still reading this fic? XD It's been almost a year since I updated. _

_Anyway, there it is: Chapter 6. This chapter was going to be posted much sooner but I ended up going through the Spring Quarter from Hell at University this year and didn't do any writing for about three months._

_I reread my other chapters before I posted this one and have realized that they need some revision. I found a lot of errors that need to be fixed and some parts that need rewritten. However, since it takes me so long to publish new chapters and I don't want to be stuck on fixing old chapters for the next year, I'm not going to revise them until I completely finish the story. I just thought I would let people know that I'm aware of them and apologize for their existence. ^^_

_Thanks very much to all my reviewers from last chapter! I really appreciate it. :)_

_As always, hope you enjoyed reading it. _


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